Someone Worth Saving
by Zelith
Summary: Rose Forrest is new to Amity Park, fleeing from Wisconsin. Due to an accident when they were young, they've become a special type of halfa- a hallowed ghost, a human-ghost fusion. When their ghost sense begins to go off, Rose is determined to find out what's going on. But can they keep their secrets safe? (boyxboy, don't like don't read. rated t for safety. rewrite!)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I've decided that YES, I will be rewriting Shadowy Rose, Dark Path! This is the new story,** **Someone Worth Saving.** **The basic premise is the same, but the plot will be more defined and pieces of information I forgot to include will be included this time around! If you enjoyed, please review!**

Amity Park: A Nice Place to Live.

That was what the sign said, anyway, as I limped past the city limits into the Illinois civilization. The only reason I had even made it this far was due to the thunderstorm I was heading towards, the one that seemed to be brewing over the horizon of this place. The storm would be hitting in a few days, and I supposed that Amity Park was far enough from Wisconsin that I wouldn't be found so quickly. I thrust a pale hand into my deep pockets and pulled out a small red-and-black electrical chip. Snorting, I broke it over my thumb with my forefinger and my middle finger. I watched as the pieces sparked in the darkness of the evening light and caught on my dark turquoise shirt. My purple eye tracked the way the fragments of technology faded away into a mess of ectoplasm and disappeared.

Curling my lip, I limped farther into the city, sniffing at the air. Strangely enough, no one seemed to spare me a second glance. Usually, my dusky purple hair caught attention and whispers from punk teens and glares from old folk. But only a handful of people seemed startled by my sudden appearance, ragged and battle-and-travel-worn. Glancing around, I secluded myself in a small, dark alley away from people. Whistling in a high pitch, I listened for the telltale rumble of the motorcycle my adoptive father had given me for my 15th birthday. The black-and-yellow bike pulled up beside me, glowing faintly as it sped towards me. I hopped on and grinned like a feral animal as it revved underneath me.

I kicked it into gear and it purred, coasting out into the street and directing itself to my will. I leaned on the handlebars, the rhythmic glide of the wheels lulling me into a sense of confidence. A bright gleam of metal caught my eye and I pulled up next to a dark-skinned boy wearing , a red beret on his head. He was fiddling with a PDA, muttering about curfew. Even so, he didn't seem worried.

"Hey~ there," I purred, stifling a grin at the startled movements the boy made. "I couldn't help but overhear you; do you need a ride?" I was leaning on my hands as the motorcycle coasted alongside him.

The boy took in the sight of me, glanced at his PDA, and nodded enthusiastically. "Would you really? Oh man, thanks!" He hopped up behind me, wrapping his arms around my midsection and relaying his address. "You just got me out of a tight spot!"

"Oh, it's no trouble," I chuckled, letting the bike speed up. "By the way, screaming is against the rules, sorry~!" And then we were off, speeding down the road at a speed that forced me to hold onto the handlebars to keep the boy behind me from being thrown off. "Say, what's your name?"

"I'm Tucker Foley, that's T.F. for 'Too Fine'," Tucker answered, his voice smooth and almost smug.

"Really?" I mused aloud, amusement twisting its way into my words. "Well, aren't you a catch?" Okay, so I _might_ have been flirting. But Tucker flirted first, which made it okay.

And now the boy was definitely smug. "I haven't seen you around before," he managed to say as we sped up, "are you new here? What's your name?"

"Indeed I am," I purred. "My name's Rose Forrest." The bike made a sharp turn and the boy's arms tightened around my stomach. Thankfully, breathing wasn't something I needed to do anyway. After a bit more small talk, during which I learned Tucker went to Casper High (where I would be attending in a week); had two best friends named Danny Fenton and Sam Manson; was a self-proclaimed carnivore; was only a month older than me; and flirted _a lot,_ we finally coasted to a stop in front of his house, a 15 minute drive from where he last was.

"Thanks, Rose!" Tucker grinned, giving me a half-hug around my shoulders. I grinned back and waved, watching as he scrambled up the lawn and into the house. Leaving only when he was safely inside, I let the bike choose its own speed as I leaned back onto the handlebars, watching the night sky. A gibbous moon shimmered in the sky, and I made a soft sighing noise as I settled down to listen.

Wolves howled- or perhaps they were dogs- as I looked for an opportune spot. When the bike finally found one, its headlights flicked on. It came to a stop in front of a large rock, the point of which faced the moon. Getting off, I patted the bike and watched as it sped off into the night and disappeared. Allowing another grin to overtake my face, I allowed the rings to transform me into a ghost. All color drained out of my body; my skin was a greyish-white color, my hair a shining black; even my attire was in black-and-white. A grey camouflage shirt and thick, sturdy black jeans covered my body, and I felt my shirt shift as my tail made itself known. In fact, only my eye had any color- a bright, unearthly turquoise that glowed.

A ghostly werewolf, the Monochromatic Wolf; that was what I was called. Within me, I felt the werewolf's mind bubble up. Grinning widely, I leaped onto the rock and, taking a deep breath, howled at the moon. All around me, the canines in the area heard my call and joined me.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the course of three days, I managed to become a part of the Foley family.

Tucker had caught me coasting along the road, half-asleep but happy to see him. The boy talked me into coming over his house, and thus I'd met his family. Mrs. Foley seemed to almost dote on me, always bringing in snacks and juice boxes. To Mr. Foley, she worried that I was homeless and underfed. Mr. Foley was fond of me, sure, but he didn't have the sort of doting affection Mrs. Foley had for me. The married couple, as a seemingly nice compromise, subsequently seemed to make sure that I was doing okay. Tucker's friends, however, were something of a different story.

I met his friends on the second day.

His friend Sam, who I'd originally thought of a cruel-looking person due to Tucker's bias, took a liking to me within half an hour. She respected my pronouns and seemed interested in learning more about my gender (being non-binary as I was). Our tastes in clothes, music, and food sources were similar, and thus we'd hit it off. Her combat boots certainly looked nice, though when she happily forced me to try them on, we found that they were too big for me. She also seemed interested in all of my wolfish characteristics, from my fangs to my sense of smell to my tendency to stare into corners and chase anything that moved.

Danny, on the other hand, seemed almost suspicious of me. His blue eyes seemed to glare into my back whenever I made a pun or joke, and I found myself subconsciously leaning away from him. Having grown up in North America (and having, as a result, a more North American wolfishness about me), I had learned to fear humans after my accident. I made sure that I was seated as far from him as I could be, hunching my shoulders and hiding my sensitive face from any abuse he might randomly throw at me. _Humans are predators,_ the werewolf in my body reminded me. _Humans will kill you. Stay away from them if you can._

Tucker finally noticed after Sam made a bitter remark to Danny, but thankfully he was smart enough not to push the matter. My discomfort must have been evident on my face, because the dark-skinned boy called his mother in and asked for more snacks. Sam and Danny had stopped arguing when Mrs. Foley came in, and did not keep up with it after she left. Instead, we started up a game of 'Super Smash Bros'. I' having grown up in the Ghost Zone with my adoptive parents, had never heard of this game and said as much.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Tucker exclaimed, making me wince. He really was loud.

"I- My parents and I didn't have electricity," I mumbled in answer. "We lived out in the woods."

No one commented on my past tense talk, which I was thankful for. No need for sob stories that weren't even partially true. Instead, Tucker set about teaching me how to play, while Sam gave me a slight look of pity. Danny, however, seemed to lose all hatred and suspicion of me. Instead, the black-haired boy stared wide-eyed at me, as though reassessing.

Strange.

[line break]

I was _crushing_ the other teenagers. I hummed slightly every time I won, and I was finally prodded into singing by Sam.

"Oh and say~, this time~, you'll have~ to sur-vive by your-self~," I hummed to Tucker, killing off Sam. Danny had been eliminated earlier in the game. "Without~ the help of any-one else.~ And your lovely doc-tor, Man-son, can't al-ways be there~ so now...~ What will you do~?"

And then I killed him off and won.

"Are you sure you haven't played before?" Danny asked me laughingly. Even though he seemed to have lost all reservations about me, I still leaned away from him, my instincts telling me to _run, run before he can catch you, hurt you, break you, torture you, kill you, kill kill kill-_

"Yeah," I chuckled, forcing a smile, "never played. You don't exactly get power lines in the woods." Glancing outside, I excused myself. "Sorry, I need to go now. It's almost 9, and I'd rather not have to fight off bears before I go to sleep. Oh-!" I turned to Tucker and grabbed his cheeks lightly. "Forgot to tell you, I'm started at Casper on Monday!"

Giving him a cheeky smile, I slipped off, bade goodnight to Mrs. and Mr. Foley, and hopped onto my motorcycle. It seemed restless, and moved away from the house almost as soon as I'd gotten settled. I'd have to control myself better. I must have really obviously wanted to leave.

Oh well.

[line break]

The third day came and I found myself inside the Foley household before Tucker had come home from school. Mrs. Foley had caught me coasting down the street and had invited me inside to shower. I had accepted her offer graciously and, while I took a long, hot shower, found that she had washed and dried my clothes for me. Now that I was clean, I found the smell of fresh meat in the house almost tantalizing. The werewolf in me wanted the fresh meat, not the daily diet of fish I caught from the river, the edible greens I scavenged, the insects I hunted when prey was not to be found. The human in me fought against the instincts that were not its own, repulsed by the scent of meat. And I, caught in the middle, placidly ignored both sides and instead focused on catching the wasp in the house.

Mrs. Foley was afraid of it and Mr. Foley was at work, and I had never tasted wasp before anyway. So I chased it about the house, already having been stung once on my palm. It took me almost the entire day to catch it. during which I was stung four more times, and Tucker came home with his friends the very moment I caught it. I must have looked ridiculous, firmly on all fours, hands pressed to the floor with a furious buzzing underneath them. I glanced over and saw him in the doorway, so I gave him a nice grin.

"It's a wasp," I informed him by way of greeting, crossing my legs and sitting down. "Been chasing it all day." I carefully picked it up between my claws, showing it to him. "Don't worry, the wasp can't hurt you. I have it."

"Good job?" Tucker chuckled weakly. "So, uh, what are you doing here? Thought you'd have been on your motorcycle."

"Oh, well, your mom caught me outside," I shrugged. "She invited me in, so I came in. Took a shower."

"I thought you looked cleaner," Sam noted, sitting down next to me and cupping her hands over the wasp. I whined but let her have it, watching her let it free outside. I stood up when Tucker, seemingly over the whole wasp thing, practically chased me up the stairs and into his room. Danny and Sam followed.

I tried to pay attention to the game they were playing, _DOOM_ or something, but I was tired. I ended up falling asleep, not waking up even as Sam told the two boys her theories about me, which turned into a full-blown conversation. I slept there the whole night, unaware when Tucker pushed over a little to lay down, and I didn't wake up until he was gone the next morning.


	3. Chapter 3

Saturday found me running in the rain, panting fearfully. The human part of me wanted to stop running and instead enjoy the rain. The werewolf part of me wanted to get as far from the thunder and lightning as I could. I gave in to my wolf instincts and ran, shifting into my ghostly werewolf form and sprinting on all fours. The sidewalk and street felt wrong underneath my paws, but there was nothing I could do about that. Soaked to the bone, I cringed away from the loud _boom_ of thunder and swerved away into the street. A loud honk as I skittered into the path of a car made me yelp, scrambling across the street to the safety of the hedges at the other side.

I panted, tongue lolling as I dug my claws into the soft, muddy earth underneath me. Another boom of thunder sent me running again, and I saw a flash of lightning just barely miss the hedge I had been hiding under. A safe space was needed, I decided. The forest where I was camping was out, seeing as trees weren't exactly the best to be around in a thunderstorm. The sewers could have been a good place, but I didn't want to get covered in disgusting liquids. That left me with three choices- go to Tucker's house and hope I could change back, find wherever Sam lived and see if her animal-loving side would provide me with shelter, or (the option I wanted the least) find Danny's house and hope that I could hide underneath or on his porch. Thankfully, as I ran frantically, my small stature helped me duck through hedges or holes in fences.

Also thankfully, I ended up running across Sam's lawn.

She must have caught sight of me, for she came running out the door with an umbrella towards me. The wolf in me cringed away from her, cowering on the grass, but the human in me wanted to wag my tail. A quick glance at the sky revealed a glimpse of the full moon, the last day in fact. I hadn't realized how late it was; the full moon turned me into a rather small wolf. Most full moons were spent curled up in wherever I was camped at the time, and I had certainly planned to be in my camp tonight. The storm had had other ideas for me.

Sam crouched down and crawled slowly towards me, a leash in her hands. I knew what she saw- a small black wolf crouched on her lawn, its face splotched with white and its body spattered with patches of different shades of grey, soaked and shivering with only one terrified turquoise eye locked on her. The wolf in me wanted to snarl at her, but the terrified part of me allowed her to loop the leash around my neck. She led back towards her house, which I now realized was a large mansion that a werewolf of my size could easily get lost in. The goth girl sneaked me past her parents and into her dark-themed room, where the sounds of the storm outside were muted and almost becoming silly. Breathing heavily, I backed away into a corner as soon as the leash was off, my gaze latched onto the two boys sitting on Sam's bed.

Tucker and Danny seemed almost used to this, identical exasperated looks on their faces. Sam allowed me to crouch in the corner of her room, giving me a patient smile and hitting both boys. After a minute or two of silence, I relaxed and gave the trio one last wary glance before I twisted to lap at my pelt, dripping as I was. I maintained my defensive stance, my ears swiveled towards them to give myself a fighting stance.

"See? It's fine," Sam said smugly, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her cross her arms.

"Yeah, it's _totally fine_ that you brought a wolf into your room," Danny snarked, rolling his eyes. "What if it attacks us? We'd get torn to shreds! Tucker, back me up here!"

"Sorry, Danny," Tucker sheepishly said, absentmindedly toying with his beret, "but I'm going neutral here. I don't want to risk getting kicked again."

"This is North America, Danny," Sam reminded the black-haired boy. "North American wolves are notoriously afraid of humans. He's probably way more afraid of us than we could ever be of him."

With that, the girl stood up and started to come towards me slowly, a towel held in her hands. As she got closer, she crouched lower, until she was crawling towards me. I shrank back from her as she got closer, but the way she was acting eased my flight instincts enough to let her get close. She rubbed at my fur, helping me dry off. I stood still and allowed her to dry me, keeping my head turned towards her and my ears turned towards the boys. I would be prepared.

She finished drying me off and stepped back, perhaps aware of how close my sharp teeth were to her soft throat. I sniffed the air and took a step towards her. Tail tip flicking, I sniffed at her shoes, and then at her shirt. And then I stepped back and curled up in the corner, tail still flicking. Sam seemed a little stunned before she backed away again, facing me, and settled down on the bed again. The wolf in me wanted to flee, but my human side was satisfied. The storm was calming and I was safe and dry. I stared at the trio for a few moments more before I settled my head on my paws and relaxed, pretending to sleep. Though my eye was closed, I could still hear the conversation.

"Perfectly fine," Sam snorted, sounding pleased.

"Well... I guess I can see your point," Danny grudgingly conceded.

Tucker gave a sigh of relief and I heard the sound of him flopping onto his back. "If this is all over with, I think we all need a nice nap." After a bit of quiet but playful arguing, the room fell silent. After a minute or two, I opened my eye and watched the three humans sleep for a moment before I moved over to the window and nosed it open. With one last glance at Sam, I hopped out the window onto the slippery grass and trotted away.

Maybe not all humans were out to kill me, after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you guys for the favs and follows! I'm glad people like the rewrite!**

Monday morning found me so asleep that my bike had to jolt itself against the concrete steps of the school to wake me. As a werewolf, I was mainly nocturnal and had spent last night just running about Amity Park. I climbed off and watched it sped away, off to do... whatever it was that it did when I wasn't riding it. Yawning, I rubbed my left hand across my eye. My grey backpack was slung haphazardly across my right shoulder, swinging precariously as I stumbled up the steps.

"Ah, and here's our new student, Rose Forrest." I had come in Friday afternoon to meet all of my teachers, for what they thought was meant to help me feel more comfortable coming in. While that was a part of it, mostly I was learning the scents of my teachers. Mr. Lancer seemed almost bored, but I gave him a rather tired grin and even a little peace sign. I took my schedule delicately from him and waited in boredom for him to finish up his speech. My headphones rested about my neck, and he eyes them for a moment before ignoring them. Settling down at the back, I found myself next to Tucker and a rather large, broad-shouldered blonde boy with a red letterman jacket.

He leaned over to talk to me, a stupid and cocky smile on his face. In return, I gave him an unimpressed look and went back to looking over my schedule.

"Hey, new kid," he greeted. "I'm Dash, Dash Baxter."

"Great," I replied, my voice perfectly polite and cold. "Charmed to meet you. Now, if you could _dash_ away, that's be wonderful."

"Oh, right," he nodded, not getting my pun. "Looking over your schedule. Got it." He leaned away and I resisted the urge to scream. This boy did _not_ get it. I glared at him as he continued to shoot glances at me, as though eager to talk to me again. If he did, I reasoned, I could always go back to being polite and aloof.

Speaking of my schedule, after this period (Double English, _joy_ ) I had Geometry, then double Gym, Lunch, Science, and History. After History, I would be free to call my motorcycle back and escape. Sighing internally, I forced myself to focus on Lancer's speech.

[line break]

Dash just couldn't leave me alone. He kept trying to "make friends", tagging alongside me and trying to talk to me. I remained perfectly polite, shoving my temper down. No need to let him get a rise out of me. I kept trying to make my way over to Tucker, but I couldn't get away from this idiot. I'm sure Tucker understood though, for he seemed like he wanted to laugh despite my continuous looks for help.

Traitor.

See, even though wolves are pack animals, I was a lone wolf. I didn't like crowds, I didn't like attention, and I _definitely_ didn't like the way Dash's hand kept itself clamped to my shoulder, his arm slung about my shoulders in a rather oppressive way, though he looked rather friendly.

"Would you please remove your arm from my body?" I asked him coldly, glaring at him.

"Oh! Sure, sorry." He removed his arm, and even stepped back a little bit.

"Thank you. Now, I want to get to my class." I began a brisk walk, annoyed when he kept pace.

"What class do you have next?"

"Gym," I spat out, though I kept my temper in check.

"Oh, I have Science. Do you-?" Dash tried to ask.

"No no," I cut him off. "I know the way there. Thanks. Goodbye." I basically sprinted away from him, using the crowd to my advantage by ducking underneath people. I heard him call back a goodbye, and I went faster. I slid into the gym with a minute to spare, growling and panting.

"Have a good time?" I heard a chuckle in front of me. My head hanging as I hunched over, I glanced at the floor. Combat boots.

"Oh yeah," I huffed, straightening up to give her a playful glare. "Totally. _Loved_ spending time with that giant idiot."

She snorted and smiled, and I flashed my fangs back in play. "Glad he didn't manage to steal you from us geeks."

"I'm a lone wolf," I retorted, "I'm basically the King of Geeks."

Sam led me over to Tucker and Danny, the former of which seemed happy to see me. The latter didn't seem to mind either way, but he still caused my instincts to make me want to flee. I smiled lightly at them and leaned against Tucker, who snorted and wrapped one arm loosely across my shoulders. This was okay. It was much less demanding than Dash's, almost loving actually. Of course, on Sunday Tucker had told me he liked me as a friend. I had shrugged and agreed, but we had decided to keep up with the friendly flirting. It kept people guessing. Like right now; Danny raised one eyebrow questioningly and Sam, having been told of the game, hide a smirk.

"Hello Tucker," I purred. "Hi, Danny."

"Hey," Danny answered hesitantly; I flashed him a grinning mouthful of sharp fangs. Tucker responded in kind as we set off moving to avoid the Gym teacher, Ms. Tetslaf.

"Oh, hey!" Sam exclaimed, catching my hand and cutting me off mid-sentence. I cocked my head at her, confused for a moment. "Did you paint your nails?"

Oh. "Yeah," I answered. "Sorry, should I have not?" As a lone wolf, I wasn't exactly knowledgeable about social etiquette.

"No no!" Sam assured me, a smirk on her face. "It's unique. I like the color. That's a pretty pretty blue." She let go of my hand and I let it drop.

I smiled back, pleased. "It's Sally Hanson's Hard As Nails XtremeWear, 29 Ocean View." I liked the color, and I was glad that at least one friend wasn't about to get angry at me or mock me.

"I didn't know you liked nail polish," Tucker laughed cheerfully. "If I'd known, I would have told my mom, she has _tons."_

"Your mom basically has a different nail color every day, Tuck," Danny snorted, elbowing him. I quickly ducked out of Tucker's friendly embrace, sliding up to Sam's other side. The two boys' jokes quickly devolved into a playful fight, both shoving each other and running. Like a game of tag, almost.

I could get used to having friends, I decided. Maybe it was time I found a pack for myself, even if they _were_ humans.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for not uploading yesterday! I was busy helping around the house. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and if you do, please leave a review!**

Gym was a very... chaotic class, I decided. Mrs. Tetslaf had introduced me to this game called "dodgeball", of which I'd never even heard of. Surely the Ghost Zone wasn't _this_ far behind. The premise of the game was the lob these rubbery balls at students at the other end of the gym. If you got hit, you were out. If you caught the ball, the thrower was out. If you deflected the ball and it hit another person, that person was out. When you were out, you would run three laps around the gym and then return to the game. A simple game. A simple game with one small inconvenience.

With everyone moving around, with all the things being thrown, I was hard-pressed to _dodge_ the balls. I got out a total of 5 times before I started catching the balls.

I had Sam on my team, and we stuck close together as protection. On the opposite side of the gym, Danny and Tucker were doing the same. Half an hour into the game, I began to wheeze. I took quick, raspy breaths that did nothing to alleviate my breathlessness. Sam looked worried, but I refused to stop. This game was like hunting, I had realized. No matter what, if you stop moving, you "die". The other team was my prey. If they stopped, I would "kill" them. I was the predator. If I stopped, they'd escape me and ultimately "die". My instincts refused to allow me to stop. Winning meant surviving. Survival meant power. Power meant victory. It was a loop, a loop of eternal desire.

My lungs couldn't take in enough air. A dodgeball had smashed into my breastbone at high speed around the time I began to wheeze. Apparently, because i had clutched my arms to the ball, it was caught. It didn't look caught, but no one argued.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to Mrs. Tetslaf?" Sam asked again, her voice worried.

"I'm fine," I spat, feeling lightheaded as I straightened up and threw a ball at Tucker. It clipped him on the shoulder and he glared at me as he started around the gym. I must have been turning blue, because Tucker's glare suddenly became a terrified look as he got closer. Sam rubbed at my back, keeping an eye out for danger, as I hunched over and coughed. My lungs burnt for air and I swayed on my feet.

An asthma attack? But I hadn't had one in years... Why would I suddenly have one now? Was it the ball that had slammed into me?

Suddenly, a whistle blew and Mrs. Tetslaf came hurrying over. The bulky woman took one look at my sweaty, pale face before ordering Sam to tell her what happened. Sam did so, including who had thrown the ball at me. Someone by the name of "Kwan". The teacher turned on the boy, telling Sam to get me to the nurse _immediately._ Sam practically dragged me out of the gym, Danny and Tucker following with only glances from Mrs. Tetslaf.

"You don't look so good," Tucker fretted. I glared at him halfheartedly.

"Fine," I puffed.

"You are _not_ fine," Sam retorted, her voice tight. Her weight was suddenly gone and I almost fell until a pair of strong arms wrapped around me and carried me bridal style. I gazed blearily up at a determined Danny, whose arms were so tense that I wondered how he was carrying me.

As I opened my mouth to protest, Danny cut me off. "You can barely walk. I'm not letting you hit your head by falling." His voice had an undertone of worry, I noted, but there was something else there... something that I couldn't name. I closed my mouth and only puffed, fingers pulling at my shirt. That was when everything went dark.

[line break]

I woke up again at the nurse's office. I was breathing better, but there was still a tightness in my chest. Upon sitting up, I coughed again. Blood came up. The nurse peered in before bustling her way towards me, cleaning off my hand with the quickness of a trained professional.

"That was quite the scare!" she exclaimed, checking me over. "Your friend brought you in, saying you weren't breathing... You were turning positively blue!" Ah. I had stopped breathing. "Luckily, the emergency inhaler you turned in saved your life. Though, you've been spitting up blood the entire time you were asleep..." The nurse finished checking me over before sighing at my silence. "Alright, you seem okay now. Go on, get to lunch. It's only just started."

She wrote me a pass and I thanked her quietly before leaving for the lunch room. I turned to thinking about the surprise asthma attack as I walked. Had the ball triggered it? Or was it coming?

One of the things I liked about being part ghostly werewolf was how I could track almost anything. I could _smell_ the cafeteria. Not too far, I reasoned.

[line break]

Lunch was an odd affair. Sam had spotted me as soon as I'd walked into the room, calling me over to sit with her and her friends. I did so quietly, rummaging through the backpack that I was handed to get my lunch. The three chatted amicably while I listened, occasionally interjecting with my own thoughts or to correct one of them. For the most part, everything seemed okay.

Science was a different story. I could barely go into the Science room without getting into a hacking fit, the chemicals in the room smelling so strongly. I was eventually fetched a mask, which made entering the room bearable, if still uncomfortable. The project for the day was to make something that _wouldn't_ explode. I was the only one to succeed, because I just mixed water with some vinegar and lime juice and left it. Ms. McNair, the teacher, didn't seem to mind.

History was somewhat more fun, but still boring. The students were still in the review phase of the class, and I listened while the teacher (Mr. Camporelli, real cool guy) went over the important parts. Finally, after History, I was free. I burst out of the building and whistled as loudly as I could. _Please please please get here before Dash does!_ I wished. No such luck, unfortunately. Dash had been trailing me from Lunch to History, and apparently he'd been told about the whole asthma thing.

"Hey, Rose!" Ah, damn it.

I turned and glared at the blonde boy, who didn't notice. "Hello, Dash," I sighed.

"Hey, listen, I wanted to know, do you wanna sit with me and my friends tomorrow? You don't have to sit with the losers if you don't want to." Wow, hey, real great job trying to befriend me by insulting my friends.

"No thank you," I replied, voice ice cold. "Those 'losers' are my friends. I'd much rather sit with them than with you." My bike finally came speeding up, slowing and stopping as it got near me. I pulled on the helmet it carried and swung onto it. "Well, seeya later, chump." With that, we were off, leaving Dash bewildered and confused in the dust.


	6. Chapter 6

**And here's a chapter to make up for not uploading yesterday :)**

As a werewolf, I was rather cunning.

Of course, all the cunning in the world couldn't have saved me from getting caught by that nice girl in the skirt. Rose had met her, I was pretty sure; but I wasn't Rose. I didn't really have a name. I didn't remember my own and Rose was bad with names. Instead, as a compromise, I was their "ghostly werewolf" form. The other ghosts called me the "Monochromatic Wolf". As a werewolf, I hated the title. As a ghost, I thought it was great.

Back to the girl, she had caught me in the park. I was having the time of my afterlife, just doing whatever, digging in the dirt, that sort of thing. I had to be careful, though; if I dug too hard, I'd break a claw. I'd broken claws before, of course (came with the werewolf package), but Rose _had_ just painted our nails. Since their nails were a dark blue, mine were a dark grey. My title included the word "monochromatic" for a reason.

 _Anyway,_ getting off topic, the girl recognized me (despite my more humanoid form) and tried to beckon me over. Now, I wasn't a pet dog to come running when called (unless Rose called. I was sworn by loyalty to protect him, which included lending him my powers) but she had fish. And not the kind of fish Rose caught from the river; she had _salmon._ Normally, I craved red meat; however, Rose was a pescetarian and didn't eat meat. So, of course, I adapted and now I ate fish. I'd never had salmon before and the scent was interesting, so I wandered over.

"Hey, wolfie," she murmured, and I almost drew back because she called me _wolfie._ But, well, like I said, I didn't have a name. So I hesitated and then kept going. That really was a nice smell, smells that smelled good were always good smells. I sniffed the fish and then took it from her hands, crouching down in front of her to eat it.

And that's when she looped the leash around my neck.

I'll admit it, I shrieked when I felt it. I struggled, but it was tight. There was no fighting that thing off. Even backing up didn't help. I abandoned my treat to snarl and fight against the leash, but there was nothing to be had.

"What gives?" I growled, glaring at her. "What the hell is this for?"

If she was surprised that I could talk, she didn't show it. She crouched down to my level and said to me, "I wanted to talk to you without you running off."

"You coulda _asked,"_ I grouched.

"Sorry. Should I-?"

" _Please._ I won't run off. Just- get this tame pet thing off me!"

[line break]

"What do you mean, you don't have a name?" Sam asked me with narrowed eyes. I had learned her name was Sam very soon into the conversation, and I allowed her to speak a lot because I didn't want to. She had asked for my name and, well, you know.

"I mean just that," I shrugged. " _I don't have a name."_

"Why not?" she asked, sounding curious. "Don't all wolves have pack names?"

"I don't have a pack," I blithely answered. "Names aren't important when you're a lone wolf." I stared at the sky with a half-lidded eye, sitting casually on the wooden bench. "Besides, it's not like I'm the Box Ghost. There's no reason for me to have a name."

"Well, I can't just keep calling you 'the wolf' or 'that wolf ghost'," she argued.

"Then you name me," I retorted. "I reserve the right to reject any and all names that I deem fit for rejection."

And that's how the game began. Sam would offer names, and I'd usually reject them. I liked a few names, and those I said maybe to. But we hadn't hit the name that really suited me, and she began asking questions to try to get a name I liked to stick. She asked about my title. I told her about how the other ghosts called me the Monochromatic Wolf. I explained why. She listened and nodded.

"I got it!" she cried, a good hour after we had begun.

"Oh yeah?" I asked suspiciously.

"Shadow!" she said triumphantly. "Your name is Shadow!"

"Shadow..." I blinked as I said the name, resisted the urge to wag my tail. This name was right, I decided. "Yeah. Shadow. Alright." She grinned and patted my head and said she had to go. I waved her off and stared at the sky until it got dark. I headed back to my den to curl up and think over the day's events.

 _My name was Shadow._

And damn if it didn't feel good to have something that was my own. I told Rose all about it, mentally kicking down his door to tell him all about it. Rose was amused by my excitement and said as much, but he really was happy for me. _Good job,_ he kept telling me. _You did a good job._

But I couldn't stop talking about it. I had a name. I wasn't a pack wolf and I was important enough to have a name. _I was important enough to have a name._ I went to sleep that night with butterflies in my stomach, squirming with mirth as I allowed my new name to wash over my mind.

 _Shadow._ My name was _Shadow._ I had a _name._ I _owned_ something.

And _no one_ could take it from me.


	7. Chapter 7

**hey yo so just a short disclaimer, i only own rose and shadow (plus the plot and the cover image). so, just a warning.**

 **spoilers for later in the chapter: DONT READ IF U DONT WANT A SMALL SPOILER!**

 **************************************"lorem ipsum" and "[Masters]... told us... she would... fix us!" are from KHTLL13's vocal cover of "Amalgam", and after the second line break, all italicized words are from KHTLL13's vocal cover of "His Theme (Asriel + Chara) but with some lyric edits to make sense for the story. Both songs are from Toby Fox's game, Undertale.**************************************

 **Enjoy! If you liked, please leave a review!**

I wasn't new to mental breakdowns. But they'd never happened in front of other people.

After the accident, the feeling of another mind within my body was enough to make me want to go crazy. As it was, I believed that for a time, I did go crazy. Attacking people, going wild, hiding in the woods... I never did remember much of that time. Shadow did, but he never said anything about it. I was thankful for that. As it was, sometimes I remembered. Like this time.

It started as shivers after school, at Tucker's. I got cold, so fast. Goosebumps appeared on my skin and I rubbed at my arms futilely. It felt like I was standing outside in a snowstorm. My teeth chattered for a moment before I firmly shut my jaws. I refused to answer questions, instead preferring to rub at my arms so hard that they turned pink. A hand on one of my own startled me into stopping. I looked up and met the worried gaze of Tucker.

"Hey, you alright?" I took a deep breath and tried to calm my shivers before answering.

"Lorem... ipsum?" No! Not what I wanted to say! If it was possible, Tucker began to look more worried.

"Danny!" Danny? Why was Tucker calling for him? I heard footsteps come running, and when I looked up I met blue eyes instead of turquoise eyes. Tucker began to explain to the black-haired boy, "Rose won't stop shivering. They said... Rose, can you repeat that?"

 _Re...fuse...,_ my mind whispered. But that tiny piece of me that wanted help repeated it. "Lorem... ipsum... docet?"

"He didn't say that last word before..." Tucker fretted. It was kind of funny. I was... well, not fine, but I wasn't hurt.

"Lorem ipsum?" Danny's brows furrowed, before it suddenly seemed to make sense. "We might need Sam over here. It just sounds like noise... Sam!"

Too many people... I closed my eye and held my head in my hands, curling up on myself. I took a deep shuddering breath, beginning to shiver again. _Masters... told us... she would... fix us!_ Shadow snarled in my head, struggling himself. She... she... Spectra?

At that point, I felt soft hands on my back ( _Un... Hug!_ a voice that wasn't mine but yet it belonged me sounded...), and then a sharp stinging sensation in my back, and then... relief.

[line break]

I didn't remember much when I woke up. When Tucker told me what happened, I could only shake my head and give him an apologetic look.

"Sorry," I sighed. "I don't really remember..." My sentence trailed off, and I was relieved when Tucker nodded in understanding. "Lorem ipsum dolcet... That's Latin, I think."

"Latin?" Sam repeated, giving me a searching look.

"Yeah... Lorem... ipsum... docet... That's definitely Latin," I decided. "But I don't know what it means, or even where I might have learned it. But it... rings a bell..."

Danny, sitting next to me, hesitantly patted my head. "It's fine not to remember. You weren't really acting like yourself." I leaned away from his touch, more onto Tucker, shrinking away from him. All of my wolf instincts went wild; I wanted to run, get far away, bite and escape, bite and escape, escape, escape-

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I don't like being touched unless I initiate it."

"That's fine," came Sam's voice. I glanced between her and Danny, and then I looked down.

"I'm gonna go home now. See you chumps later, I guess?" I didn't wait for an answer.

[line break]

 _You fell straight into our home, and then I found you first. You seemed like you were alone... They said humans are the worst._

I always loved hearing Shadow recite the song we'd written together, especially after such a horrifying meltdown. 'They' were my adoptive parents, Kitty and Johnny 13. Even though I couldn't remember the events well myself, I always joined in on the song.

 _I never wanted to be here. I tried to end my life. After a while it was clear... you three could end my strife._

 _You are what I always wanted._ This part was always heavily stressed... Shadow always made it clear that he never wished me gone, since I wished myself gone so often. _We were a family. I'm so glad you were adopted. You always made me happy._

 _It was fine until that day... it was the end for us._ I never liked this part. It brought up too many memories... but I powered through anyway. _Nothing else would go our way, there was no saving us._

 _It was just an accident..._ Shadow's voice, deeper and raspier than my own, wavered. It always did at this part. He felt like it was his fault, what happened... no matter how much I tried to convince him it wasn't. _You were not meant to fall..._ Falling... I remembered that... it was the humans, wasn't it? With their weapons... they wanted to hurt Shadow and I... I took the hit, didn't I? _I know you felt abandonment, but I promise, I tried!_ That's right... Shadow went for help... right?

 _I lost you as my brother and that is why... I'll **never** forgive humanity... for all of their crimes!_ I still harbored a grudge against those humans, the humans who took it all away from us... Neither of us remembered anything about them, except that they were bad people who hurt us.

 _I am such a crybaby,_ Shadow chuckled softly. He still remembered how much he had cried, too... but we had both cried. I because of my pain... and he because of his inability to help me. _I'm sorry, Rosey, please..._ Rosey... he hadn't called me that name in a very long time... _I've been so lonely lately... all my core does is bleed..._

Was that really how he felt? I never knew...

 _You didn't deserve to go down with me,_ I mumbled to him. I smiled sorrowfully and wanted to cry. _Why couldn't you just let me go? I don't want you to hurt..._

 _It almost tore me in two... I don't want **you** to hurt! _ His decision... was it fueled only by that? By only wanted to protect me? And humans thought ghosts were the bad ones... _I hope I meant the same to you... Sometimes it felt like you lied._

 _I didn't want this to happen,_ Shadow... I assured him. I never wanted him to feel like this... Why hadn't he just let me go? This way, he was only hurting... _Please, don't follow me to Hell, and don't cry anymore..._ My suicidal attempts would land me in Hell when I finally died, I knew. But there was no reason for Shadow to come along. I couldn't bear it if he did.

 _I miss you too much; you only have one wish... to see the sunset once again, I'll make sure that you do._

Shadow had taken us both through a closing portal to where I had grown up, but in doing so, an accident happened. We were bound together, his ghostly power and my human physicality melding into one. We saw the sunset, he made sure of that, but while Shadow marveled at the feeling of sunlight... while Shadow was awed by the warmth... the sky... we were attacked.

The humans came at us full force. I wanted to turn my wrath against them, using Shadow's powers... but he stopped me. He wouldn't let me do it. Those humans, somehow, reminded him of me.

We turned around and went home, injured and fading...

 _I can't hold on any longer, I'm fading... I'm sorry that I couldn't keep... A promise, but I hope... that you will forgive me during our time... I don't want to ever let you go, so I'll just hold on tight..._

Shadow's voice trailed away, and after a moment I felt him detach. He appeared behind me, wrapping his arms around my tiny body.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.


	8. Chapter 8

I didn't go to school on Wednesday, nor did I make it there Thursday.

When Friday dawned, I forced myself up. My stomach was growling at me, so I dragged myself down to the river to catch a trout. I ate it in quick gulps, not minding that it was raw (being a ghost had some perks), and I washed my face and tried to fix my hair. Afterwards, I caught another trout, cooked it over a quick ecto-started fire, and then packed it into my backpack.

In the back of my mind, I felt Shadow watching raptly; he would protect me.

[line break]

"Hey, Rosey!"

I froze at the voice. Anger simmered within my core; what right did Dash have to call me that? There was only one entity who was allowed to do that, and that was Shadow.

"You have no right to call me that," I snarled, baring my teeth. I flexed my right hand, feeling the claws form at Shadow's will. Suddenly, I was the one watching. "Don't you ever do that again," he growled in my voice. Then, he swung my hand towards Dash, claws poised to tear at flesh-

And my hand stopped inches above Dash's face. My eye narrowed, and Shadow dropped my hand.

"Y-Yo, there's no need-" Dash kind of stuttered; I thought he was in shock.

Shadow turned and began to stalk away. "You'll be alright," he growled. And then my mouth twitched into his quirky little smirk. "I didn't win this time. But next time you do that... I won't lose."

He turned control over to me again when he had directed me into the Geometry classroom. I settled down in my seat, still simmering with my head on my arms, when I caught sight of Sam staring at me. Lifting my head, I returned her stare. She colored for a moment, then gave me a nervous grin. I stared at her for a moment, then returned it with a smile of my own. I then returned my head to my arms and watched as the teacher began the lesson.

[line break]

"So, why'd you basically rip Dash's face off? Not that it wasn't cool," Sam added quickly, "but just that, well, it seemed kind of out of character."

"He called me Rosey," I muttered. "There's only one person allowed to do that, and Dash isn't him." I shot a glare towards Dash, who couldn't see it but probably felt it, if the shivers he suddenly had were anything to go by.

 _I could always maul him,_ Shadow offered.

 _Thanks, but no. Animal control is a thing in the human world._

 _Damn._

"Well, better hope that Tucker and Danny saw that display," she snorted. "Or else they'd probably say it."

I shrugged. "I'd rather them say it than that bonehead. Of course, I'll still maul them if they try. Just, you know, in private. Where I won't get expelled."

She was still laughing when we entered the gym, but a glare from Mrs. Tetslaf shut us up quick. "Party pooper," I mumbled.

Evidently, Danny and Tucker had indeed seen the display this morning, for both seemed almost apprehensive. But when I did nothing but mumble greetings, they relaxed. Well, Tucker relaxed. Danny kept staring at me as though I was an enigma that he needed to solve.

I coughed as my ghost sense came wafting up, the electrified air sending a small shock through me. I hid the puff of air in the crook of my elbow as Shadow whirled in my head, snarling silently, looking for the threat. But when no threat became evident, he settled down (still angry). Shadow's obbession was with keeping me safe. To protect me. So, obviously, whenever my ghost sense went off, he would get all fired up and angrily possessive/overprotective.

Since Danny was on my blind side, I didn't notice a blue puff of air that came from his mouth.

[line break]

I was coasting along after school, just sitting on my motorcycle. No helmet, of course. You don't need a helmet with a self-steering motorcycle. Anyway, I was just coasting along when I heard a shout behind me. Twisting, I saw _Danny_ fleeing from Dash. I didn't like Danny, but I hated Dash more.

"Yo, Danny!" I shouted. "Come on! Hop on!"

He didn't waste any time, putting on a burst of speed and thumping down behind me. I took off, making a few sharp turns to throw Dash off.

"Why was he chasing you?" I shouted over the wind.

"He got a D on his English test!" Danny shouted back.

After a while, I finally began to slow down. My bike gave a tired puff under me, and I let it slow down as much as it liked. "So, Danny," I asked, "where do you live? I'll take you home."

"FentonWorks. Can't miss it. Down Specter Avenue..?"

"Oh, yeah, I know where that is," I nodded. "Gotta say, I like the UFO on top."

"That's the OP center," Danny replied. My motorcycle began down Madison Lane, just one street over from Specter Ave. "I... don't really know what it's for, to be honest."

"Least you're honest," I quipped. In the back of my mind, Shadow watched intently. He was ready to push Danny off, I knew, but he wouldn't unless Danny became a threat to me.

We both chuckled as I pulled up in front of FentonWorks. "Well, thanks, Rose."

"Ah, no problem. That bonehead needs to learn his manners," I shrugged. "Seeya, chump." And I took off, heading for Tucker's. His mom had promised me cookies, and I was _not_ gonna miss out on that.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the wait! I was at my friend's house and didn't have access to my computer. Please enjoy!**

Those cookies were good, and I said as much. As a result, I was invited over the next day for cookies and _tea._ I _loved_ tea. At least, Shadow loved tea; I myself didn't particularly care for tea but I could tolerate it.

However, I ended up missing the invitation.

"Lorem ipsum docet," I mumbled to myself, holding my head in my hands and pressing my face to my knees. "Lorem ipsum docet. Lorem ipsum docet. Lorem ipsum docet lorem ipsum docet. Lorem... ipsum... docet?" I mumbled the words over and over. Within me, I felt Shadow writhe with wrath, twisting and turning and producing a feeling akin to nausea. Due to this nausea, I ended up vomiting ectoplasm into a hole I had dug prior to the episode at Shadow's insistence. (I was thankful for the hole after the fact.) The ectoplasm dissipated after a while, during which I panted as I struggled to breathe properly while I was thrown into my memories.

 _Pain._

 _The pain was unbearable. I screamed and thrashed, tears streaking down my left cheek as blood poured down the right side of my face. My left ankle was in tatters; whatever had attacked me had taken my foot with it. Trembling, I lowered my hands from my eyes. One hand was coated in blood; but the real horror was sitting three feet in front of me._

 _My own purple eye stared at me from its spot in the grass, looking for all the world like a toy I had dropped and abandoned. The white of my eye was stained pink, and my pupil had gone all grey and blank. But it was misshapen... almost as if something had taken a bite out of it. Bile rose within me and I expelled it to my right. As I whimpered, the grass rustled to my right- my blind side. Squeaking in fright, I tried to scramble away._

 _But there was something there, something green- and I fell through it._

 _I wailed in pain as I smashed into hard ground, stomach first. My left thumb and right middle and ring fingers made a sickening cracking sound as I hit the ground. Broken?_

 _I stayed there until I heard footsteps. Mewling in fear, I shivered and looked up to see who had come. A black-haired boy with wolf ears, a fluffy tail, and one wide turquoise eye stood there, one pale greyish-white hand over his mouth in alarmed horror. His monochromatic camouflage shirt twitched as he stood there, horrified. Suddenly he seemed to snap out of it; he came forward, ignoring my whimpers as he reached his hands out, showing me he was empty-handed, and helped me into a standing position._

 _"Oh, you've fallen down, haven't you? Here, I'll help you get up." His voice was soft and kind, strangely sympathetic to my pain._

 _Crying out as I leaned too much onto my tattered ankle, the boy quickly pulled more of my weight onto him. I faintly noticed that he glowed- a ghost? But I was told they were all bad. Why was a ghost helping me? I felt the odd urge to tell this friendly ghost my name, so I did._

 _"Rose, huh? That's a nice name." The boy was practically carrying me, and in the distance I could see what I thought was a house. "My name is Shadow."_

I woke up from my memories in tears with a black-haired ghost boy curled up around my front, holding me in a loose, comforting hug as I twitched my fingers and prosthetic foot.

[line break]

I didn't go to school on Monday. I spent both Sunday and Monday lying in my camp, letting Shadow fuss over me. However, on Tuesday, he urged me to attend school. He promised to stay close, and that promise gave me the strength to gather up my finished work, put on clean clothes, and even to eat. With that, I took my backpack and began to drift towards school. I was running later than usual, for I wandered into the sight of both Tucker and Sam.

"Rose!" Tucker came racing up, and it took all of my self-control not to flinch away from him as he fretted, checking me over and spouting questions left and right. "Are you okay? What happened? It's been _three_ days!"

I gently removed his hands from my shoulders as I answered his questions in a soft voice. "I'm okay. Just some personal problems. I just... needed some rest."

Neither Tucker nor Sam seemed believe me, but they let the matter drop as they took up protective positions on either side of me, talking to me lightly and upholding my fragile mental state for the time being.

[line break]

Apparently, I looked so fragile and scared that no one dared to bother me. Not even my teachers called on me. That was for the best, though, for I could barely answer my own thoughts without breaking apart; I didn't dare try to answer anyone else's questions. Even so, I didn't miss the concerned looks my teachers gave me, nor did I miss the uneasy, searching looks my friends gave me during lunch where I picked at my lunch without truly eating any of it.

"Are you sure you're okay, Rose? You've been distant all day," Sam asked me softly as she walked with me to Science. I didn't answer her. "Please answer me, Rose."

 _Please answer her, Rosey. I'm... I'm worried about you._

Damn. I couldn't fight against Shadow's desperate words.

"I'm okay." I wouldn't look at her, instead averting my gaze to stare at the floor and hunching my shoulders to allow my hair to obscure my face. "Mental breakdown." Admitting that to her, even though I did it myself... it was almost enough to throw my back into another memory. But Shadow blocked it, protecting me in the only way he currently could. I didn't speak again, which Sam took as her cue.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Her voice was invitingly welcome, soft; it reminded me of Shadow's voice the day we first met.

"...I remembered things that would have been better left forgotten. Too much pain... a lot of fear... things that I never want to feel or experience again." With the exception of meeting Shadow, of course. That was one thing I didn't regret.

"Oh." A pause. And then, Sam said, "You can tell me about it if you want to. I'm here for you. We all are. We'll always be here to help you."

 _"Don't worry, Rose!" Shadow said from next to my bed. "Mom and Dad won't hurt you. I'm here for you!"_

 _"Don't worry, Rose," Dad said as he patted my shoulder. "We'll always be here to help you."_

I found a tear trickling down my cheek. I smiled sorrowfully and wiped it away. "...Thanks, Sam."


	10. Chapter 10

**Lots of muse today... here's another chapter! It's mostly a backstory chapter, oops... Please review if you enjoyed! The lyrics scattered in the chapter are from bumble-lily's cover of "Asgore's Theme" from Undertale, which is owned by Toby Fox.**

 _"But alas, my dear it can't be. Surrender your SOUL~ to me..."_

The music was loud and took my mind off of my memories. I had given Rose a break from being physical, taking over their body and letting their mind rest. But my own memories had surfaced during Rose's breakdown, and right now I needed a distraction to keep the memories from overflowing onto Rose.

 _"If I could~, I would cut the rope~, and yes I would let~ you go..."_

I would let Rose go if I could. But if I cut the tie- if I severed our connection... they would die. We both knew that. I was the one thing that kept Rose from spiraling into a deep depression that would only end in their death.

 _"I will claim our hand now to control~. But all I need~ is your final SOUL~."_

With Rose's body, I could see colors. Their nails shined black with a silvery pattern, spotted with bits of red and green. I had examined them closely the first time I saw it, but I had found (with relief) that it was just the nail polish. I didn't want Rose to start hurting themselves again.

 _"I never wanted~ this twisted despair~. I would release you~, I mean it, I swear~..."_

I would. If it would help him, I would release my hold on him, even if it meant giving up the object of my obsession. That wasn't easy, and usually it ended with the ghost in question going insane or exploding into nothingness from the paradoxical nature of obsessions.

 _"So why do you stare at me~ with eyes that are spilling tears~?"_

I never wanted to see Rose cry like that again. And with that, my mental barrier broke and I was flooded with my own memories.

 _"Did you hear that noise?" I asked Mom. "Can I go check?"_

 _"I don't know," the light green-skinned ghost said, biting her lip. Her red eyes carried a worry that I didn't understand at the time. "Why don't we ask Daddy?"_

 _"Mom!" I complained as she began to pull me back to the house._

 _"Let him go, Kitty." My dad's rough voice came to my ears, which perked up at his voice. He smiled down at me and ruffled my hair. Mom let go of my hand to argue with Dad, but I didn't stick around for that. I went running towards the sound, letting my hands act as forepaws. I quickly left them behind, relishing in the feeling that running created against my hair._

 _I slowed down when I got near the place, walking on two paws now. "It sounded like it came from over here..." I pushed my way across the field, towards the sound of whimpering. And suddenly the sight jolted into sickening clarity._

 _A tiny human laid face-down on the ground, shaking like a leaf. Their hair was some vibrant color that I couldn't name due to my colorblindness, but what really horrified me was the blood that pooled around them. It was a bright red, different from the glowing green of ectoplasm. It poured down their face from the right side of their face, and the human's left ankle was completely ravaged beyond the repair of even ectoplasm. Their left foot was_ _ **gone.**_ _Completely and utterly missing. On their right foot was some sort of shoe, but it looked like nothing I recognized. I covered my mouth in revulsion for the tiny human child's injuries._

 _They looked up at me, their remaining eye wide with fear and pain. What sort of horrible monster would have done this, torturing such a poor innocent child? Tears streaked down the other side of their face, and that spurred me into action. I stepped forward, ignoring their squeaks of fear, showing that my hands were empty and would not hurt them. I took their hands and helped them up._

 _"Oh, you've fallen down, haven't you?" I was worried; this human must be so injured. I deliberately kept my voice soft, trying not to frighten them further. "Here, I'll help you up." They cried out in pain, and I pulled more of their weight onto me. I could easily take it. They didn't weigh much to me. I began to help them limp forward, trying to keep them from putting any weight on their injured leg. They whimpered out their name, much to my surprise. "Rose, huh? That's a nice name." I was just about carrying them at that point, as I felt them descending deeper into a pained lethargy. "My name is-"_

The memory cut off there. It always did. But now I could fill in the blank. _"My name is Shadow."_ Another memory surfaced.

 _Rose laid in their bed, sleeping. I had been overjoyed when Mom and Dad let them stay, even enthusiastic about it. I didn't understand a human's need for sleep, though. Was it a way to recover? But they didn't seem to be getting any better._

 _"Rose?" I whispered. They were a light sleeper, and they stirred and opened their eye. We matched, I belatedly realized. We both only had our left eyes. Their other eye was wrapped in bandages still. It'd been almost two months since they'd fallen and I'd found them, but they still needed to wear the bandages or else their eye socket might get infected._

 _"What is it, Shadow?" Their voice sounded groggy, and I instantly felt bad._

 _"Why do humans need sleep? Does it help you heal? Because your eye still isn't better, and if sleeping makes you better then how come your eye isn't better yet?"_

 _Rose laughed quietly and sat up in their bed, letting me clamber onto the bed next to them. They tugged at the covers until we were both underneath them. Rose's body warmth was almost scorching; I had quickly learned that humans generated heat._

 _"Well," they began, "humans need sleep because that's how our bodies make energy. Sleeping does help us heal, but it's not like how sleeping helps ghosts. We don't heal as quickly." I blinked in understanding as they continued, staring at the ceiling with a smile on their face. "Humans sleep because our bodies don't generate energy like ghosts do. We need to give our bodies and minds a break to recover our energy."_

 _"Oh. Okay, I think I get it now." Warmed by their pocket of heat, I snuggled up to them. They didn't even shiver, used to my coldness by now, and merely snuggled back. "Sorry for waking you up."_

 _"It's okay." They patted my cheek as they got comfortable in my arms. "Goodnight, Shadow."_

 _"...Goodnight, Rosey."_


	11. Chapter 11

**Would you guys prefer if I made longer chapters? Or is this length okay?**

No mention of my fragility was made the next day, when I felt much better. Nor for the next two months. But after the two month mark hit, things got a little weird. First of all, I had commissioned Skulker to make me a new foot prosthetic _ages_ ago, and he hadn't yet gotten back to me. So, of course, when I saw him fighting (or "hunting") some white-haired ghost kid, I of course shouted at him.

"YO, SKULKER!" I shouted angrily. The two ghosts stopped fighting and looked down at me, Skulker seeming to get a little nervous when he saw me. "YEAH, YOU, YOU TIN CAN! GET YOUR SHINY METAL ASS DOWN HERE BEFORE I _MAKE_ YOU!"

"Ah," Skulker said to the white-haired ghost, "just a moment, ghost child. I have some business to attend to." And with that, he floated down.

The moment he touched the ground, I kicked him with my metal foot as hard as I could in the shin. He yelped and fell while I stood over him.

"I commissioned you ages ago, Skulker! Where have you been?"

"Getting my ass beat," he shot back. It was such a quick snap that I couldn't help but snort.

"Okay, I can let that go," I decided, 'letting' him up. "Do you have my prosthetic?"

"Yes. Yes I do, little child. Here you go." He deposited the prosthetic in my hands, and seemed to almost pride on my big smile.

"Thanks! ...Can you help me put it on?" I was a little embarrassed to ask the hunter that, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead, he sat me on the ground and fiddled with my left ankle as he attached the new prosthetic.

"Little child, do you wish to keep this one?" He held up my old prosthetic.

"Nah, if you want, you can turn it into some sort of bomb or whatever." I shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me what you do with it. Thanks for the prosthetic, Skulker! Oh, and, please don't skin other ghosts 'alive'." The white-haired ghost above seemed to sigh at that, so I smirked and continued, "Wait until _after_ you've killed them again to skin them."

And with that, I patted Skulker on the shoulder and sauntered off, my new prosthetic balancing my gait and removing my old limp for the time being. And the sounds of fighting behind me started again.

[line break]

"So... let me get this straight," Danny started, "you're friends with ghosts. With _Skulker._ And you commissioned him for a new prosthetic?"

"Yeah, sounds about right," I chuckled. "Except, y'know, I'm not really friends with that old tin can. We're on friendly terms, but that's because my dad would tear him to pieces if he wasn't nice to me."

"Who's your dad?" Tucker butted in, grinning. "We've never met him."

"Well, I live alone," I snorted, leaning on my right hand. "Of course you haven't met him. I'm _adopted,_ you idiot. Sure, he wishes I had stayed with him and Mom, but I didn't want to be there anymore, so I left."

"Really? You live alone?" Sam seemed confused. "But then, where do you live?"

"The woods, of course," I drawled. "Where else would I catch fish every day?"

The shouts of my shocked and concerned friends would ring in my ears all day.

[line break]

"Come on, Rose!" Tucker called, waving me over. "We're heading to Danny's!"

I really didn't want to go, but Tucker's face practically begged me to come. So I sighed and had my motorcycle rumble alongside them. I leaned on my motorcycle's handlebars as my friends talked, not really listening. I began to hum a familiar tune, the same song that Shadow had been listening to yesterday. I didn't notice when my friends began to quiet down and listen.

"My-stic light~, take me whole. Twi-light shines~, blind-ing all~. Here you are~, jour-ney's e~nd; filled with courage? No, it's determination~.

"And yet still~, you call out to me~. Beg-ging now~ for your sweet re-lease~. But alas, my dear it can't be. Surrender your SOUL~ to me..." I held my right hand in a fist near my chest, facing downwards in a ghostly respect for unavoidable conflict. "Don't you see~, you can bring us HOPE~. But your death's~ a thing I _can't_ cope... If I could~, I would cut the rope~, and yes I would let~ you go..." I didn't notice, but Shadow began to sing along with me, making my voice double up and echo ever so slightly. "But then~, don't you see~ it would all be naught~... And it all would be truly my fault~!

"I can't have this~, just damage my pride... Give up your LIFE~, be our sac-ri-fice..." I touched my left fingertips to my sternum in a salute of respect and sorrow. I had only used this salute once before, at a fight with someone who was stronger than me. "I never wanted it to be like this~... Let me live in an ig-nor-ant bliss~...

"Please let me go back to~ those days, when we lived in~ such simpler ways...~" Shadow seemed to be singing more than I was, using my voice to hide it. But I didn't mind. I noticed that my friends seemed to be taking me on a longer route than normal, as though to hear me finish the song... oh well. "All I wish~ is for us to be FREE~... live in peace just like how it should be!~ I will claim our hand now to control~... But all I need~ is your final SOUL~...

"AH- here we are~... The time has come for us~ to now col-lide~... So bear your SWORD~! What have you in store?~ Why do you raise your arms~ and just smile?" I touched my left hand to my forehead and my right fingertips to the inside of my throat, a ghostly gesture of confusion to an inferior. "So please don't look at me~... Why do you simply yell out my name~... as you cry~...?

"I never wanted this twisted des-pair... I would re-lease you~, I mean it, I swear!~ But my peo-ple can't~ live in this res-pite~... one thing's for cer-tain~, one of us must DIE~... Yes of course~, you would have known~, for that is why you traveled here~! So why do you stare at me~, with eyes that are spill-ing tears?~

"WAIT, POOR CHILD!~ No, could it be?~ You thought you could leave me be?~ Oh my, no~, I thought you knew~, just how it's meant to be~... This isn't meant to be~... Why is it you must bleed?~...

"Perhaps it could be me?...~" In an undertone, Shadow began to whisper. _("So take my soul and leave~. My child, please run and be FREE~.")_ I ended my song and hummed another familiar tune before I glanced at my friends. They seemed surprised, but quickly covered it up.

"W-Well, we're here!" Danny said quickly- too quickly. It made my flight instincts rile up, even though Danny had never done anything to me. And I coughed into my arm a small puff of electrified air.


	12. Chapter 12

**lmao i have no excuses**

The Fentons' house was... okay. My claws kept materializing within the abode, and I couldn't get them to stop. Even Shadow seemed confused, and he tried to help keep them back. Unfortunately, any time he tried to help, it spiked my ghostly aura and ended up setting off ghost alarms within Danny's house.

"I'm so sorry about that," Danny said for the umpteenth time, leading me into his bedroom. Sam and Tucker followed me. His parents had gotten a little "excited" and now I had ecto-goo in my hair.

"It's _fine,"_ I sighed, attempting to pull the goo out with my still-existent claws. My claws became stuck and I tried to free them, pulling my hair away from my empty eye socket while doing so. With my one remaining eye closed in concentration, I didn't notice until my three friends produced simultaneous gasps of horror.

"What... what _happened_ to your eye?" Sam all but whispered.

I finally freed my claws and opened my eye, startled. "It was an accident, a long time ago." I glanced away from her, discomfited. "It was a... the only term I can think of is ghost," I confessed. "I don't remember it vrey well at all... but I do remember floating... and glowing... and then there was a lot of pain."

"Not all ghosts are like that," Tucker tried to soothe me.

"I know. I was helped by one." _Damn it,_ I cursed myself, _I'm revealing too much!_ But I couldn't seem to stop. Now that I had started, I had to finish. Shadow didn't seem to mind, though that might have been because he was vaguely asleep in my subconscious at the moment.

"How long ago was it?" Tucker asked, pulling my head to his chest and stroking my hair. Normally I would have bitten him, but at the moment I could feel a panic attack bubbling up and his touch grounded me.

"8 years," I mumbled. "It was 8 years ago."

"You were-" Sam choked on her words, and then managed to cough out, "You were _7?"_

"I'd rather not remember anymore."

And so it went silent for a while, until the trio began to speak in hushed tones to each other while Tucker continued to pet me. _Such a motherhen_ was my last thought for a while.

[line break]

 _I liked to play the piano, and Shadow liked to listen. Mom even managed to bribe Walker into giving her one from his 'real world items'. We didn't have a lot of those. They were 'prohibited', whatever that meant. I'd never heard the word before I'd met Warden Walker. Mom and Dad had to get a permit from him to keep me, apparently. I was considered a 'real world item' to ghosts, especially Mr. Walker._

 _"Rosey!" Shadow yelled from a few rooms over. "Rosey, where are you? I want to go play!"_

 _"Coming!" I shouted back. I slid off the piano bench, careful to land on my flesh-foot first, and hobbled over to join him. "What do you want to play?"_

 _"How about we do something nice for Mom and Dad?" Shadow suggested. "It could be a surprise!" I agreed enthusiastically, but neither of us had known what the 'surprise' would entail._

"Rose..."

 _Who was that? I strained my ears, but I couldn't find anyone. All I could feel was pain- and everything was black- and all I could remember was that I didn't want to be here... that this wasn't supposed to happen..._

"Rose?"

 _There it was again! Who was calling out?_

 _"Rose." I turned around and saw- myself? They smiled sadly. Why were they sad? "It's time to wake up. We're dreaming."_

"Rose!" I bolted awake, panting. Tucker leaned over me, concerned. "Rose, you were dreaming. Are you okay?" I stared at his face for a few seconds, not comprehending, before I recognized him and sighed in relief.

"I'm okay."

"You were screaming." Danny spoke up from beside Tucker, startling me. I hadn't known he was there. My surprise awoke Shadow, who whirled in circles within me, snarling and thrashing and ready to kill.

"Sorry." I closed my eye, unwilling to look at anyone any longer.

"What were you dreaming about?" Sam clambered beside me, laying her head on my chest. My slow corebeat must have scared her, but she didn't seem put off. In fact, she didn't seem to notice.

"Memories... some good memories. And then it turned bad..." I sighed and opened my eye, staring at the ceiling. "Sorry. It's nothing to worry you guys about. What time is it?"

"About 7. Why?" Danny seemed to be almost suspicious. What was there to be suspicious about? I cursed inwardly, feeling Shadow rile up again. It was almost a full moon (tomorrow, in fact, would be the first day in the three day period and the first night of the full moon was always my most violent) and Shadow was quicker to nettle. Thankfully, a werewolf's bite wasn't infectious unless it wanted the bite to be infectious. And, also thankfully, even though I had bitten people before, it seemed that I was incapable of infecting others.

"I just wanted to know the time," I muttered with an undertone of aggravation. He seemed to get pretty apologetic after hearing me, but I couldn't care very much at that point.

[line break]

 _"Arrooooooooooooo!"_ I snarled at the human before me, who looked pretty confused and terrified. She should know better than provoke a werewolf on the full moon.

"Shadow?" she whispered, eyes wide with fright. She dropped the tuna she was carrying, but I couldn't care any less about the fish. I took a step towards her as she took one back, my jaws dripping. She kept glancing at the sky nervously, waiting for something. For what? My question was answered as an ectoblast hit my side, making me jump away from the girl and snarl up at the white-haired glowing figure in the sky. I wanted a fight and it seemed that this ghost would give me one.

 _Perfect._ I snarled and leaped towards the boy.


	13. Chapter 13

I woke up around 7:30 in the morning with a _killer_ headache. In the back of my mind, Rose complained quietly. It must be worse for them, I decided, and consequently worried about. Rubbing at my forehead, I looked over to my right and saw the nice goth girl who brought me foreign fish. She looked afraid- of me? But why... oh. The full moon. Did I attack her?

"Sorry," I breathed. She seemed almost surprised, and her fear fell away fast. "I'm a werewolf- the first night of the full moon is always the worst."

"You're a werewolf?" She- Sam? Rose had called her Sam- looked almost suspicious. "But then-?"

"No, I'm not infectious." I rolled my eye and shifted a bit, moving closer when she beckoned to me. Was she having trouble hearing me? Surely a human's hearing wasn't _that_ bad. Rose's certainly never was. "Werewolves are only infectious when we want to be, and I've never actually gotten that to work. Must be part of being dead," I added blithely. "Why, did I bite you?"

She wasn't as surprised by that as I'd thought she'd be. Maybe it was the boy I'd fought. Did she know him? He'd come to her rescue. She shook her head quickly at my last question. "No, not me, but someone else I know." That confirmed it then. I didn't remember much of last night, but Rose remembered bits and pieces. "So, werewolves are only infectious when they want to be? And- vicious on the first night of the full moon?"

"Pretty much," I shrugged. Even Rose hadn't asked this many questions, and he was _attached_ to me. "The first night is always the worst, and subsequently the most vicious. But the second and third nights are usually better."

"Why?" The goth girl had relaxed now, probably since I was no longer foaming at the mouth to eat her. (Yes, even though I was on a diet of fish and vegetables, sometimes on the first full moon night I ended up hunting down and eating things that I shouldn't be eating.)

"Second night usually entails a lot of playing with someone I know," I answered, thinking of how normally Rose would throw a stick (or branch) for me to chase, "and the third night is the calmest. Usually on the third night of the full moon, I go exploring the town. Gets all the pet dogs riled up, cause I'm a real wolf and they feel obligated to howl with me. I also get to stay mostly in control on the third night."

"So that- that wasn't you, last night?" Lots of questions.

"Yes and no, Nosey McQuestions," I snorted. "Yes, it was physically me. No, it wasn't me mentally. That was my vicious, human-hating instincts."

"Nosey McQuestions?" she repeated, sounding outraged.

"Yes," I responded, sticking my tongue out in pure doggy fashion. "That's you." I yelped when she smacked me over the head.

[line break]

The second night was so much better. Rose didn't feel like hanging out with their friends, so they spent the entire day with _me._ My possessive, ghostly instincts found that so much more preferable. I wanted Rose all to myself. My obsession was to keep them safe, and as such my obsession was most fulfilled when they were with _me_ and not their friends.

" _Rose?_ " came Sam's voice from the trees.

The change in my mood and behavior was instantaneous; I went from happy and panting to angry and snarling, standing in front of Rose to shield them. _Shadow, calm down,_ came their irritated thoughts- we weren't truly split from each other, still connected mentally. Splitting completely from each other was never a good idea, even for small bursts.

"It's Sam, Shadow, calm the fuck down," Rose muttered, pushing at my shoulder and even managing to push me away somewhat. I whined in surprise and pleading. "Hey, Sam!"

"Well, when Shadow said he knew someone, I didn't think it'd be you," the goth girl said as she came out from the trees- _completely empty-handed._ Where was my treat?

"He's the ghost I told you guys about yesterday," Rose laughed. They rubbed at my head but stayed near me, for which I was grateful and happy about. If they'd moved away, I would have possibly-probably-almost-certainly flipped. "He helped me when I was younger."

"Huh." Sam came closer, emboldened by the fact that I had stopped snarling at her. "He seems a lot bigger than he was two months ago when he ran across my lawn in the rain."

"Yeah," Rose snorted, "it's the full moon. It's at its peak, and since he's more used to the exposure his body isn't reacting as violently." He pointed towards the sky, at which point I thumped my haunches down with an audible crunch of leaves and howled. Rose merely winced a bit and laughed, petting my head and howling with me.

"Is he always that loud?" Sam groaned, uncovering her ears.

"I thought you'd be used to it because of Tucker," Rose answered. Both humans laughed, causing me to whimper and tilt my head in confusion. Who was Tucker?

[line break]

Sam didn't come to visit me on the third night, but that was okay. I had fun trotting around the town unhindered, slinking through small spaces and finding shortcuts all around the town. Needless to say, Rose was exhausted come Monday morning. So, naturally, I let him sleep and I went exploring in my more humanoid form.

I wanted to explore the school, so I did. Poking my head into classes, sniffing around, getting under the staff's feet- that sort of thing. But I was there for a reason, too.

"Excuse me?" I popped into some English class with the old man whose scent I faintly recognized from Rose.

The man stopped his lecture and stared at me for a moment before straightening up and sighing, "And what do you want?"

"Can I have Rose Forrest's schoolwork? He's home in our den and I figured, eh, I'd get his work." I gestured to the bag I was carrying, already filled with Rose's other schoolwork.

The man only sighed and handed me Rose's schoolwork.


	14. Chapter 14

Sometimes I hated Shadow. The looks I got when I returned to school didn't help. Though, the fact that Dash and his cronies (the "A-listers", whatever that meant) didn't approach me helped somewhat. Tucker snorted into his milk at lunch when I complained to my friends. I had ended up seated next to Danny, and while the (slightly older) boy didn't seem to mind, it made me antsy.

"Wait so, you're telling us that your _ghost_ came to school and got your schoolwork," Tucker tried to simplify, "and now your teachers won't look at you?"

"I can only be thankful that he didn't draw attention to himself," I sighed, rubbing at the blind side of my face. "And thankful that he didn't decide to play my Pokemon Go."

"What team are you?" Sam asked curiously, leaning on her left hand. Somehow, _Sam_ was the one who enjoyed playing Pokemon with me and not Tucker. It was surprising, if only because I hadn't thought that _Tucker_ would willingly miss out on something techno-based.

"Mystic. You?"

"Hell yeah, Mystic!" We fist-bumped and chuckled together, though I was startled out of it by Danny startnig to laugh. I edged away from him, staring at him with decently-hidden fear. "Danny, do you play Pokemon Go?"

"No, but it's funny to watch you two dork out together," Danny coughed. He hid a yelp when Sam kicked him in the shin. Those combat boots really hurt- Shadow had told me.

[line break]

I was turning 16 that Friday. All three of my friends were already 16, with Tucker almost 17 and Danny the closest to my age. But I was still younger than all of them. However, with my birthday approaching, I needed to get something off my chest; they needed to be made aware.

I knew their secret.

It's not like it was hard; if Danny wanted to hide his halfa status, he should learn duplication better. He really did do a horrible job at hiding it; he kept rubbing at the spot where Shadow had bitten him; he blatantly used intangibility to reach into his locker on multiple occasions; Phantom and he were never seen near each other; and, honestly, they even looked similar. So I decided that it was only fair that if I knew their secret, they should know mine. Mutually assured destruction or whatever that nut in Wisconsin would call it.

Pulling the trio into an empty janitor's closet, I stated bluntly, "I know your secret."

Danny intelligently stuttered and coughed before managing to say, unconvincingly, "What secret? I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Oh please," I snorted, "drop the stupid act. I'm not gonna go tell anyone. That would be absolute mayhem and if the people of Amity Park aren't smart enough to make the connections themselves, I don't really care about making it for them." The trio seemed to relax, though they were all still tense. I rolled my eyes and let my own rings of crackling electricity wash over me, allowing me access to Shadow's ghostly body. "Besides, it'd be mutually assured destruction if I blabbed." I watched Sam's eyes widen and then make the connection, while Tucker looked like he was going to faint and Danny was startled beyond comprehension. I let my human body fade back to me as I turned towards the door, only stopping when Shadow reminded me of something. "Oh, and Danny? A mixture of raw ectoplasm and Wolfsbane should heal that bite faster. Sorry for biting you, but, y'know, full moon. Don't worry, no one's been turned yet."

And then I left them there, trotting away feeling far less confident than I looked.

[line break]

Avoiding my trio of friends was easy. All I had to do was stay somewhat closer to Dash than normal, and the giant blonde idiot did the rest for me. He was overjoyed to find that I was near him, and forced me to sit at lunch with him. This would have been okay, except I was being shoved between Dash and another giant boy by the name of Kwan. My shoulders kept getting bumped as they stupidly roughhoused, which I ignored in favor of trying to calm Shadow down. The girls (a Latina named Paulina and a white bitch named Star) weren't much better, fawning over me (probably due to my shortness, which I hated) and my nails. They kept asking stupid questions too, like: what brand is that? (OPI.) What color? ("I can't Hear Myself" Pink.) Do you use a topcoat? (Yes, I use a clear nail polish as a topcoat.)

Finally, the bell rang and I was able to escape with a half-assed excuse and a bolt for the door.

"Bad idea," I wheezed as I slowed down near the Science corridor. "Note to self: don't ever stoke Dash's ego. You will be suffocated with giant, smelly boys."

"Did you mean what you said?" Danny's voice was uncharacteristically quiet, and it startled me. "About not telling?" I stepped away from the halfa, my core pounding painfully as Shadow whirled in my head.

"Mutually assured destruction, Danny," I coughed, retrieving my asthma inhaler and regulating my breathing. "I wouldn't have told you that I knew if I couldn't do something to put you guys on equal footing."

"How did it happen?" Dann'y voice remained quiet, not prying but curious. "How did you become a halfa?"

I stiffened with rage at his words. Without me noticing, Shadow's voice seeped out in a growl with my own. _"We are not a halfa."_ I gained control over it, gently pushing Shadow back. "We are not a halfa," I repeated in a cold voice. "Tell me, Danny- what do you know about hallowed ghosts?"

"Hallowed ghosts?" He sounded confused. "Well... there's only one in existence, right? And a hallowed ghost is a forced fusion between a human and a ghost?"

"Yes," I hissed, taking a step towards the halfa. "Exactly." I got close enough to bite his throat if I wanted to, and I felt Shadow hover over my mind, ready to stop me if I lunged. _"We are the lost hallowed ghost."_

Shadow sensed my intentions and forcibly took hold, fading my body out of visibility and getting us out of there.

[line break]

 _The one memory that Shadow and I shared, remembered clearly and vibrantly, even, was a sad one. We remembered the old music box that that strange time ghost had put out. It was underneath a portal that dripped water continuously onto it, though, drowning it out. So we created an ectoplasmic umbrella (that stayed long after our concentration broke and we fled). We heard the tune first... and then we heard the lyrics._

 _"Chi-ld lost and filled with des-pair, the rain keeps fall-ing down;_

 _"Dis-tant mu-sic floats through the air; rain cause-es it to drown;_

 _"One chi-ld has been for-got-ten; what was their name a-gain...?_

 _"A mess-age that can-not reach them; for what were they con-demned?_

 _"Reach-ing out to try and save him; whim on de-ter-min-a-tion;_

 _"Cries all carr-ied off by the wind; lost all of their re-la-tions..._

 _"You can pass, please don't be worr-ied; I'll keep play-ing my song;_

 _"The past has been dead and bur-ied; no one can sing a-long..._

 _"I can feel the beat-ing rhy-thm; it rests with-in your heart..._

 _"All bro-ken through-out the king-dom; it's tear-ing him a-part..._

 _"Con-tin-ue and nev-er give up;_

 _"He can't come back with us..._

 _"Can-not hand-le this af-fec-tion;_

 _"Pre-ferr-ing just de-ser-tion..."_

 _Neither of us knew when we had begun to sob, but our haunting cry echoed throughout the area and began entrapped within the music box; when the loop restarted, we fled._

 _And we didn't visit that part of the Ghost Zone again._

 **Hey! The lyrics above are from KHTLL13's "Memory (Original Lyrics)"! Not mine, they belong to that lovely person! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review if you did!**


	15. Chapter 15

Everyone fell easily back into our friendship. I found the trio waiting for me at my locker, and I was so pleased that I forgot that I was angry at Danny. Danny, too, seemed to forget that I was supposed to be angry at him. We all chatted amicably, even happily, and we all walked to class together. On the way, we were stopped by Dash.

" _Dash,"_ I whined, mentally telling myself to never ever do it again, "I'd rather get to class on time. Wouldn't you?"

He stopped, halfway leaning over Danny (a remarkable feat to me, as I was shorter than all of my friends and hadn't taken in how tall Dash was) and blinked stupidly at me. I stared back at him, pouting pathetically, and the blonde boy muttered, "Yeah, sure, okay." He made a somewhat threatening gesture towards Danny, patted me on the shoulder (which I shied away from with a grimace), and then heading away.

Danny blinked. "How did you do that?"

"Oh please," I groaned. "Has no one noticed his little crush on me? I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm a girl."

"Are you gonna tell him otherwise?" Tucker asked, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"Of course not," I snorted. "Where's the fun in that? Plus, I'm pretty sure that he thinks _we're_ dating, Tucker, just like the rest of the school. If I tell him that I don't have tits, he'll make your life miserable."

"Wait, you two _aren't_ dating?" Danny could be so clueless sometimes.

[line break]

On the way to Gym, my prosthetic broke. There was a loud snap as I put my foot down, and then I tumbled over as my balance suddenly failed and ended up dislocated a few fingers.

"Ah, shit!" I hissed. "How the fuck am I supposed to walk if my prosthetic is broken?"

Tucker crouched down next to me while Sam and Danny ran ahead to warn Tetslaf. "Do you mind if I take a look at it?"

"Go ahead," I mumbled. I twitched my foot and was met with pain. I winced and mewled in pain. "I think some of the support beams on the inside snapped, though. I'll have to send Shadow to the Zone to get replacement parts from Skulker..."

Tucker prodded my foot, stopping at my insistent grunts of pain. There were _nerves_ connected to that thing, I hoped he knew. "Yeah, the metal completely caved in at the ankle," Tucker sighed. "Do you need me to carry you to class?"

"Please." And then the bell rang.

I was light for my size (due to being a hallowed ghost, but also because, as a human, I had lived in the Zone for a little over a year and the ectoplasm had messed with my body's properties), and so Tucker easily carted me off to Gym, arriving a few minutes after the bell rang.

"Forrest!" Tetslaf boomed, towering over Tuck and me. "Can you-" She then noticed that I was being carried. "Never mind. If this weakling is carrying you, then there's no way you can move."

[line break]

My birthday kind of sucked.

Usually, Shadow would make a giant cake and hide inside, jumping out as soon as I walked in front of it. He'd been doing it for years now. But this birthday, he needed to head into the Zone and get Skulker to replace the prosthetic. We were too far to communicate mentally, though we were faintly aware of what the other was doing. Still, the loss of Shadow's comforting presence really threw my mental balance off. My friends noticed.

I also had to use crutches to get around, because overnight my entire prosthetic had come loose; the parts were connected by only a few wires. For now, I had an ACE bandage wrapped tightly around the two parts, enough to prevent any pain that came from having my _foot in two pieces._ But any pressure really fucked up the nerves in there, thus the crutches were needed. It really sucked.

But getting out of Gym was always cool. Shadow had somehow managed to blackmail another ghost (might have been Spectra, she thought I was a great source of misery and I wasn't opposed to letting her use that misery as long as she didn't, like, kill me or something) into writing a doctor's note and it had gotten into my backpack that morning.

Anyway, Gym class was almost too boring for me. I spent it sitting on the bleachers yawning and writing song lyrics. I hummed a soft tune, before changing it. It sounded almost war-like in the end, and I decided to test out the lyrics.

"Ev-ery her-o has to make a serious choice;

"Fight with _HON-OR_ , make your ri-vals fear your _VOICE;_ die in bat-tle to per-pet-u-ate your _NAME;_ or run from dan-ger just to live a-noth-er _DAY._

 _"Real_ her-oes nev-er fear the pain or death; ev-ery sol-dier fight un-til their fi-nal _BREATH; d_ ed-i-cat-ing all their lives to just one cause; serve the _KING-DOM_ and app-ly the rules and laws;

"Years of _TRAIN-ING,_ giv-ing all your blood and sweat; get-ting to the point where noth-ing is a _THREAT;_ ev-ery batt-le will just be a-noth-er day; ev-ery hu-mans' just a-noth-er one to _SLAY;_

I hummed the tune softly, keeping my voice down low; even doing this, I could see heads turn slightly towards me as the students passed near me on their jog around the gym at Tetslaf's orders. Was my singing really that good? Or was it just that powerful, like Ember's voice?

"Raise-ing their _spears_ to the _SKY..._ loy-al sol-dier _keep_ mar-ching _on..._ shout-ing in _one_ clear _voice~..._ ev-ery single _DREAM~_ they have... _HON-OR_ the ones~ who are _GONE~..._ fight-ing for the same _no~ble CAUSE;_ a-way from _home~_ in the _WILD~_ try-ing to _sur-vive~ A-LONE..."_

My voice dropped from the thoughtful volume I'd had to a quieter, almost sadder volume.

"Just be-cause... we fight, it does-n't mean... we don't have our own frag-ile _HEARTS..._ if we could, we would go back in time... so we could prevent all these _WARS..."_

My voice rose once more.

"The real her-oes stand un-til the end!... But the big-gest fight is _IN-SI~DE...!_ Feel-ings clash-ing while you pre-tend... that the blood-stains one day will _DRY~..._ Then you hear these voice-es in your _head..._ tell-ing you it will be _AL-RIGHT..._ But your heart keeps tell-ing you a-gain:

" _Real_ her-oes don't have to _FIGHT..."_

I related to the song on an almost personal level. Shadow and I separately were two far different people that we were combined. _Fight with honor, make your rivals fear your voice..._ we were like that when we were together. We fought honorably, and there were plenty of ghosts who avoided us. Even our voice could send them running. (The Box Ghost came to mind when thinking about specific ghosts who fled from us.) _Die in battle to perpetuate your name..._ that was Shadow when we were separate. He was almost a madman... his obsession compelled him to protect me and because of that, he was willing to die. _Or run from danger just to live another day..._ I always ran away. Shadow would tell me to run and I would. I ran from danger every chance I got because I wasn't strong enough on my own...

The bell rang, startling me out of my thoughts. I gathered up my notes and lyrics and stuffed the papers into my bag, hobbling down the bleachers on my crutches towards Danny, Sam, and Tucker. All three seemed almost dazed...

Was my singing really that powerful?

 **Lyrics are from Jenny [xUnreachablee]'s "Battle Against a True Hero * Orchestra ver. w/ FanLyrics"! Not mine! "Battle Against a True Hero" is from Toby Fox's game "Undertale".**

 **If you liked the chapter, let me know! I like to know that you guys enjoy my writing!**


	16. Chapter 16

The next few weeks sucked.

Shadow came back three days after my birthday, on Monday morning. Apparently, Skulker couldn't replace my foot just yet- some dude named Plasmius had commissioned him for some big evil doomsday device or whatever, and the guy got super peeved if it wasn't done on time. However, our meeting up again wasn't as nice as I would have liked.

"Come back here, ectoplasmic scum!" an unfamiliar, feminine voice shouted. I turned towards the noise in confusion in time to see Shadow run straight into me, merging again and trying to lock our consciousnesses together. I fell over from the impact, dropping my crutches. I rubbed my head and moaned in slight pain as Shadow's whirling mind pieced together only a few coherent emotions- fear, pain, anger, and a need to be hidden.

I looked up in time to see a woman in a blue HAZMAT suit throw what looked like a miniature dreamcatcher over my head.

[line break]

Tears streamed down my face. Wiping them away did nothing, so I let them be. Behind me cowered a black-haired werewolf ghost, whimpering and growling and balancing on three legs- his right front leg had a long gash on it, and the surrounding skin was burnt and looked crispy. In front of me stood a woman in a blue HAZMAT suit and a man in an orange HAZMAT suit, both of whom looked rather confused to see me crouched in front of the ghost.

"Sweetie," the woman tried, "why don't you let us get the ghost?"

I averted my gaze and sighed, "I didn't mean to get in your way..." I blew at my bangs. "Sorry if you think my fight's a chore... why encounter me?" I levitated a small rock and tossed it at the couple. "It's okay if you want to leave... that's all right..." I sighed again and stood up, shooing the the wolf away. The wolf slunk away gladly, though it hid nearby.

"What are you?" the woman growled at me. I simply gave her an apathetic stare, of which she flinched from upon meeting it.

"Ghost!" the man shouted hopefully.

"No," I exhaled, "psychic. I'll just cry for the whole fight, sorry... but I can't let you pass."

Suddenly, there was Tucker; he must have run up when I wasn't paying attention. I did that a lot, sorry... " Come on, Rose, don't we need to-?" He noticed my tear-tracked face and froze. The big man took the chance to shoot at me, despite his partner's admonish, but the wolf jumped in front of me and simply deflected it.

"Oh, you've really done it now!" he snarled, becoming more human. "I'm so angry, I could- I could- _argh!"_ The ghost threw a bolt of energy at the couple, separating them. "Do you think you can defeat me?!" He threw more energy carelessly at the humans, while Tucker tried to drag me away. I watched as tears blurred my vision. Suddenly the wolf turned to me and took my face in his hands. "Are you okay, Rose?"

"Yes," I mumbled.

The wolf carelessly knocked Tucker away, taking my hands and pulling my forward. "Come on then! Let's find that- thing!"

Tucker trailed behind helplessly. "Uh, what's going on?"

"Separation," the wolf answered, turning and glaring at the dark-skinned boy. "And what do you think you're doing with _my_ Rose?"

[line break]

"Man, I hate it when that happens," I complained, furiously trying to swipe away the tear-tracks on my face. Tucker had managed to convince Shadow of his identity and then distracted the two adults (who were, oh joy, Danny's parents) while I found the dreamcatcher disk and hid away with Shadow. Said werewolf ghost was currently contentedly latched to my subconscious, having finally successfully locked our minds together.

"Does that happen often?" Tucker snorted, helping me limp forward since we hadn't managed to find my crutches. He was obviously trying not to laugh.

"No," I growled, "but it sucks when it does."

"When what does?" Sam asked, jogging up to us. Danny followed close behind.

"Your parents," I said pointedly at Danny, "mentally and physically separated Shadow and I today. Earlier this morning, actually."

"Let me guess," the black-haired boy groaned, "the Fenton Ghostcatcher?"

"Better," Tucker answered for me, "a smaller version of the Fenton Ghostcatcher."

"It was gross, it sucked, and I cried the entire time," I summarized.

"Wow," Danny snorted. "Okay, I'll put that one the 'Destroy as soon as possible' list."

"Good list name."

"Thanks."

 **Sorry this update took so long and is so short!**


	17. Chapter 17

**okay to make up for the long wait last time i'm gonna try and finish this chapter soon**

"At least you have your foot back?" Tucker tried. I was currently fuming, and had been for the past three classes. Long story short, it was Danny's fault. So I punched him and gave him a bloody nose.

Long story short with more detail, Danny decided that he wanted a hug. So he hugged me. Normally, this would not be a problem. However, I was having a particularly bad day (read: Dash fucking kept _touching_ me) and so, naturally, I did _not_ want to be touched by anyone. There was also the fact that there was a very possessive ghost fused to me who was also pissed at Dash. Incidentally, there was also my aversion to being touched without permission. When I inevitably got upset and pushed Danny away, the boy got snippy. We argued about it for at least three minutes and no more than five minutes, escalating in tension, when I finally snapped and punched him right in his stupid face. From what I understood from Tucker, Sam was trying to explain to Danny why I was upset.

"I don't care about my stupid fucking foot!" I seethed, pacing. We were in an empty classroom, and I had already broken three desks and the chalkboard. (I may or may not have eaten the chalk. I liked the texture, okay?! Don't judge me!) "He shouldn't have fucking touched me without asking!"

"He sees me do it all the time," Tucker said in a soothing voice. "He might not have realized that you're more comfortable letting me touch you than you are letting others touch you."

"I don't care!" I shouted, startling the dark-skinned boy. Eye going yellow with restrained psychic power, body crackling with electricity, hair frazzled, he must have thought my mind had snapped. And maybe it had, but I could put it together again when I calmed down. "I don't care! He _shouldn't have fucking touched me!"_

"I know that," he said quietly. "I know that. And I think he's gotten the message too."

Blinking against sudden tears, I tried to regulate my breathing as I tried to stop being so angry. It wasn't Tucker's fault, after all. In fact, usually Tucker waited for me to initiate physical contact before he let his arm dangle over my shoulders. Seeing my resolve weaken, Tucker carefully slid off of the teacher's desk (which I had graciously not broken yet) and walked towards me, arms open and palms up and flat. I stayed still, letting Tucker get closer- but when he got too close, I took a step back and then ended up sitting down on the floor, on my knees with my hands pressed to the floor to steady myself. Like a little kid playing animal. And he stopped, crouching down to my level.

"It's okay," Tucker whispered. "It's okay to get angry. It's okay to not like to be touched without consent. It's _okay_."

Breath wavering, my arms shook. I felt the first tears of anger-turned-shock slip past my mental barrier and down my face. Shoulders hunching, trying to fight against the inevitable flood of emotions, I only noticed Tucker get closer when my headphones slipped over my ears. Looking up, I saw Tucker fiddling with his PDA through blurry, tear-filled vision.

The last thing I was aware of for a while was the soft, steady flow of calming music from Tucker's PDA.

[line break]

When I was aware of myself again, I was unsurprised to find sticky tears down my face. I _was_ surprised to find that my headphones were still on, music was still flowing quietly through, and Tucker's arms were loosely around my midsection. Judging my the position of his arms, I concluded that he must be holding me and that the solid thing I was leaning on was Tucker's chest and not a desk. The music was pretty quiet, and if I listened hard enough I could hear the conversation going on in the room.

"I think I get it," came Danny's quiet voice from my left. "Man, I really messed up..."

"I think they'll forgive you," sounded Sam's voice from my right. "They seem like that kind of person."

"Yeah, man," Tucker sighed into my hair. He liked that; apparently, my hair was eternally soft. Shadow liked to do it too. "Don't worry. They'll be mad at you for a while, probably. Rose has a right to be angry. But I don't think they'll hold it against you forever."

"I'm still mad at you Danny," I said just as quietly in response, startling everyone in the room. I reached up and held Tucker's hands, fiddling with his fingers with my eye still closed. "But... I think I can get over it. Eventually. Shadow is the one to watch out for; he'll bite ya."

"I figured," Danny breathed. "Rose, I'm sorry."

"It's- well, not fine, but getting there." Getting there. I smiled slightly. Yeah- I really was getting better, wasn't I? As long as that stupid rich loon didn't appear to ruin my life again, everything would be fine. I could heal.

I could _heal,_ finally, after all these years.

 _We_ could finally heal.

[line break]

"Dude, I think you should punch Dash in the face," Tucker encouraged.

"I don't know," I drawled, "he still thinks I have tits. Might as well milk this for all it's worth. He's already given me chocolate for my birthday. Wonder how long I can keep it goin'."

"Watch out for Valentine's Day, then," Sam snickered. "He might kill you _both_ with all that chocolate."

"Werewolves are _not_ gonna die from eating chocolate," I countered, wagging my finger at her (and having to lean around Tucker to do so). "Especially not a werewolf with a human psychic fused to him."


	18. Chapter 18

**Reah-Kitsune: Thank you so much for your review! :) Just a note, this time around I've been using 'they' pronouns for Rose and 'he' pronouns for Shadow. You can still use 'he' pronouns for Rose, but I don't want to confuse you if you see me referring to Rose as 'they' in the story. :)**

Christmas break came up quickly.

Danny didn't seem to mind the cold, nor did Shadow, but _I_ definitely did. After all, I had a hot core with electricity as its element and I didn't have a heavy fur coat to protect myself from the cold. Luckily, Sam wasn't much for the cold either (though Tucker loved the snow and the cold and thus wore clothing as light as his parents would let him go outside in), so she and I spent a lot of time sharing one really big, fluffy coat. My hot core (unsurprisingly) produced a lot of heat and the coat held it in, which made sharing a coat with me "the best thing ever" according to Sam. Unfortunately, without a coat, my body didn't actually _retain_ any of the heat.

"GoddammitDanny!" I spat quickly, trying to keep my mouth warm by hoarding warm air in my cheeks and thus not wanting to lose it. The halfa in question had just (intentionally or not) made the air colder around him. Sam shivered beside me as some of the heat was lost, and I tried to amp up the production. Shadow helped, since he was the ghost in our (strange) relationship. As the space I shared with Sam heated up, I grasped Sam's hand under the coat and rubbed my scorching fingers over hers.

She sighed in relief. "Thanks, Rose, I thought I was gonna get frostbite and lose my fingers."

"Sorry I can't warm up your boots," I apologized for the tenth time that morning, still trying to retain warm air in my mouth. See, if my mouth got too cold, it would ice up. It had happened before, when Shadow and I once got lost in the Ghost Zone and ended up crashing into the Far Frozen. The yeti leader there was pretty nice and he helped us home (and also helped to unfreeze my mouth, I lost three baby teeth that day) but, well, we didn't visit very often. The last time had been, what, two years ago during the Christmas truce? That sounded about right.

"It's fine, Rose," Sam sighed for the tenth time, rolling her eyes in a playful fashion. "My feet are warm anyway."

"If you say so..." I mumbled doubtfully, but I didn't press. I could feel my teeth beginning to freeze together, so I puffed some hot air into my cheeks and didn't talk for the rest of the trip to school.

[line break]

"I hate Christmas," Danny complained for, like, the millionth time.

"You said that 34 seconds ago, Danny," I replied, not really paying attention to his whining. I was more preoccupied trying to figure out if I could bum a sleeping place out of Tucker's family for the winter, or at least until the thaw. Sleeping in the snow had gotten me ecto-repression sickness before, when I was first running from that stupid Wisconsin nut. I had (stupidly) accidentally teleported to Maine and let me tell you, it got _cold_ there in the winter. Of course, I was found and nursed back to health by said nut, but that didn't stop me from running away again. And again. And again. First to North Dakota, then to California; from there, I ran to Arkansas; then to Nebraska; then to new Jersey; Oklahoma; Washington; Texas (I was so close! I had been on the Mexican border when I was finally caught); and now finally Illinois. This was my 10th time running away. I had gone to farther lengths than ever to escape him- by staying closer than I ever had before. And it seemed to be working!

"Rose, what are you gonna be doing for the winter?" Tucker asked, shaking my shoulder. "Your mouth is icing up again already and you barely walked past a window."

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Probably build a fire and not sleep for the next few months. Why?"

"Cause no, you're not doing that, _you_ will be staying with _me_ for the holidays." Tucker sounded resolute- I hadn't really expected this.

"Are you sure?" I asked, trying not to get my hopes up. "Letting me into your house after school every few days isn't the same as letting me stay over your house for the entire winter break."

"I already asked my mom, she said yes, it's official."

And that settled it.

[line break]

The first few days were awkward, to say the least, but I quickly found that not much could phase the Foley parents. Even my frequent nightmares, night terrors, and chronic insomnia didn't deter them from trying to include me in the the festive cheer than surrounded the household. In fact, it seemed to be their way of trying to make me feel better.

And damn, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't working.

I actually slept more and slept _better_ after spending the entire day being dragged around the mall by the Foley family. Mrs. Foley was always doting, trying to get me to eat more (I kind of ate only the bare minimum to survive, usually; it was a survival tactic, but also I had to psych myself up for eating even the bare minimum, so eating more took longer- not that Mrs. Foley minded) and trying to figure out what I liked, presumably to try to give me things for Christmas. About a week after Christmas break started, I went to the mall by myself and got a few things for each Foley family member and my two other friends with the little money I had left. I wrapped them at the mall, sitting on the floor near a bench with an air of 'don't disturb me if you value your life', just wrapping the presents and labeling them in my loopy cursive.

I had just finished putting the presents under the tree, as Danny and Sam would be joining us at the Foley residence for Christmas (even though Sam was Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah, not Christmas), when Tucker made a loud noise behind me, startling me. I yelped and almost hit my head on a heavy ornament. Turning to glare at him, I pouted and crossed my legs under me, crossed my arms over my chest, and gave him the death look.

"You ready to learn how to play DOOM?" Tucker grinned.


	19. Chapter 19

Turns out, I was pretty good at DOOM.

Once I finally managed to memorize all the keystrokes and where my fingers were on the keyboard without looking, I started blasting through levels. On his personal laptop, Tucker joined me on a multiplayer server. Though I still made a lot of 'noobie' mistakes, we were a pretty strong team. We finally ended up getting defeated around Level 8, because I accidentally dropped a grenade and took us both out. Thankfully, Tucker didn't seem to mind.

Shadow ended up being a _lot_ better at the game than I was.

"Dude!" Tucker breathed excitedly; there were practically stars in his eyes. Tucker was crouched beside us on a pillow, because he kept getting up and pacing around; I was sat, rather possessively on my ghost's part, on Shadow's lap, whose arms were under mine to keep me from escaping. I had whined and squirmed for the first five minutes, but Shadow had merely rested his chin on my head (where his head continued to rest). Now I was resigned to it. Shadow had just gotten to Level 10, and on his first run too. "Dude, you're good at this!" The dark-skinned boy got up and began to pace in circles behind us.

Shadow took little notice, focused on the game that had made me so embarrassed over losing. Yeah, the entire reason he was playing was because I felt bad over making a mistake and killing us both off. Talk about a possessive and embarrassing ghost, am I right? I blushed and squirmed again, though to no avail; in fact, Shadow's arms got tighter about my rib cage. Whining got a slight reprieve; somehow, Shadow couldn't resist my whining.

Still, it wasn't as embarrassing as Christmas Day.

[line break]

"Shh!" came Tucker's voice from the kitchen. All talking cut off abruptly as I neared, my eyesight obscured by black hair that shone slightly purple. My uneven gait created an almost thumping noise, which was how I'd been heard coming. "You guys have to see this, it'll really shock you!" Nearly tripping over my long pajama pants, and cursing their existence, I blinked as the bright light of the fluorescent kitchen light swept over me.

"Whoa!" Danny exclaimed, leaning back suddenly. Sam nearly fell off of her seat, holding onto the kitchen island-table for 'life'. I would never understand human 'metaphors'. Or was it 'hyperbole'? Ah, whatever. I wouldn't understand it, whatever it was. I narrowed my yellow eye at the three, feeling satisfied when Tucker lowered his head and motioned for the other two to do the same. With no one meeting my eye, I assured myself of my Alpha status in the pack and growled lowly in greeting, dragging myself off to find something to devour messily.

"Who is _that?"_ Sam hissed. I flicked one ear and kept it turned towards them, though subtly. Not like I needed it to hear the humans and halfa, though.

"That's Nightingale," Tucker said plainly, without any hint of trying to hide. What a good Beta in the pack! "I only noticed because Rose sleeps a lot longer than I do. See, apparently, Rose and Shadow are a lot more... _mentally intertwined_ at night. So, in the mornings, when they wake up... they're a lot less of disjointed, separate personalities and more... I don't know, uh, more whole? I guess that's how you'd say it... Right, Nightingale? Whole?"

I twisted to look at my Beta, my one eyebrow raised in a good mockery of a confused look. I nodded once and made a low hum-growl, turning back to my coffee. Yeah, there hadn't been anything I'd wanted to actually eat, so... coffee was a pretty good substitute.

"Yeah, _whole,"_ Tucker said, satisfied with my answer. "I bet Rose and Shadow got knotted together again," he added smugly. I carried my black coffee (with so much sugar it'd probably kill a human) over to the table and settled down on the other side of it, glaring at my dark-skinned pack member. For his part, he only grinned and ducked his head slightly. I relaxed and sipped my coffee, kind of put out by the fact that he was _right-_ Rose and Shadow had gotten tangled and knotted up together. _Again._

"So, uh," Danny started, trying not to stare, "Nightingale?"

I made a nondescript noise and looked him in the eye. As the Alpha, I was allowed to do that. He flinched, which he should.

"Right," he mumbled. "Uh- hey, wait, is that coffee?"

I blinked and snorted repeatedly (or, in the human terms, 'laughed') in amusement. Of course, that caused some coffee to go down my windpipe- while not threatening, it did make me cough and it kind of burnt. Just a little. My hot core protected me from most things like that, though. Tucker slid down from his side of the table and hurried over, rubbing at my back and trying to help me breathe a bit better. I released a puff of steam and straightened, giving my Beta a sharp-fanged baring of teeth in what humans called a 'smile'. When Tucker left, I went back to sipping my coffee and focusing on untangling myself.

[line break]

As I untangled myself from Shadow, with Nightingale's help, I slowly bled back into consciousness. With a face full of coffee, it was hard not to ignore the others at the table. I straightened out my thoughts and lifted my head, glaring blearily at Tucker. The teen was laughing, and I wanted to punch him.

"That was so your fault, Tucker," I growled, still sipping the coffee that Nightingale had been nice enough to make for me. "If you hadn't kept Shadow up with that stupid computer game, we wouldn't have gotten tangled _five nights in a row._ "

"You learned to play DOOM?" Sam smirked, leaning over the counter to ruffle my now-dusky purple hair. "Any good?"

"Shadow's better," I snorted, finishing off my coffee in one long gulp. Setting the mug down lightly, I continued, "I suck at it, and I accidentally killed Tuck and I on Level 8. So Shadow took over and he beat it. In one go."

Danny and Sam choked on their breakfasts (bacon and vegan muffin, respectively) at that. "One go?" Danny wheezed, eyes beginning to replicate the awe that Tucker had.

"Yeah?" I blinked. "Is- is that good?"


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry for the long wait! I stayed off the computer and went outside for a while :P idk why, friends, but it helped a little. on to the chapter! hope you guys enjoy!**

My friends were rather considerate this holiday. From Danny I received a scarf to keep my face warm, and it was so soft that I ended up burying my face in it for the rest of the day. (Apparently, Shadow and I liked the smell of catnip. Strange.) From Mr. and Mrs. Foley came a set of pajamas that were actually a little too big for me but that Tucker said would make me look, quote-on-quote, 'cuter than normal'. For some reason, Danny sent Tucker almost a glare, but I couldn't figure out why. Maybe it was just a boy thing that my nonexistent human childhood hadn't taught me. Tucker gave me a box of dark chocolate (which I adored). From Sam was the biggest and most surprising present- a cell phone.

"Our numbers are already in it," she said smugly as I turned it over in my hands, a little confused on how to work it. Cut me some slack- the Ghost Zone didn't exactly have reception. Most of the time, if you needed to contact another ghost, you would just sort of head off in a general direction and you'd eventually find yourself there. _Focus_ and _Location_ were important in the Ghost Zone; if you didn't focus, you might not end up getting anywhere and if you didn't know your location, well, have fun getting lost.

[line break]

 _I need a favor._

Sam had sent me that text over three hours ago, and hadn't deigned to say anything more except to pack my new pajamas and a change of clothes and head to her mansion. So I bundled up as warmly as I could, for it was snowing once again, and trudged over to the Manson mansion. It was almost an hour long walk, as I had returned to the forest for some much-needed alone time about two days ago. My motorcycle had returned to the Zone due to the cold, and wouldn't be back until February. Which meant I had to walk. Sam was waiting for me outside, and allowed me five minutes to puff for breath and try to keep myself from icing over.

"So what was the rush?" I panted, shivering.

"I need you to pretend that we're dating," she answered, taking my hand and drawing me forward.

"I thought-?" I huffed, stumbling over my shoes.

"Yeah, I know, but my parents aren't really the best people to talk to about it."

That led to meeting Sam's parents. I tried to play the whole 'nice kid who is really polite' card, and it seemed to work. Keeping my hands behind my back helped hide my fidgeting fingers (and also those pesky claws) and averting my gaze seemed to help play into the whole 'polite gentleperson' thing. After a whole lot of awkward questions that I mumbled and bullshitted my way through, Sam managed to drag me off to her room.

"God, I'm sorry about them," she apologized as she closed the door, locking it to keep her parents from barging in. "They always do this."

"It's fine," I tried to reassure her- but my shaking hands said otherwise. She took my hands into hers and tried to quell the shaking, which... didn't really help. "Sorry," I mumbled, burying my face into my scarf (since I still had it on), "nervousness. I've never been good at- at pretending. That's more... Shadow's thing."

"Huh?" She took my cheeks in her hands (god, they were so warm, humans really felt this warmth all the time?) and made me look her in the face. "What do you mean?"

"Shadow-" I hiccuped and had to start again. "Sh-Shadow is the one th-that c-can pretend," I stuttered, hiccuping as I tried to repair my mental defenses before they broke. "H-Has a lot m-more pr-pract-tice."

[line break]

All in all, the sleepover went pretty well. I woke up in my nice new set of pajamas and Sam draped half on top of me. I blushed fiercely when I realized, since I hadn't even fallen asleep on the bed with her. We had agreed that we couldn't share the bed, after all- it was a single, and Sam was far too big. I had been content on the floor, curled up in a big nest of spare blankets and pillows (and maybe Sam's backpack). So that begged the question... when had I gotten onto the bed?

 _Sam probably moved us,_ Shadow perked up helpfully in the back of my consciousness, already sorting through my dreams. Silly werewolf ghost, he loved to organize my thoughts. He set my best memories up against the walls, like a shield, and cast the bad ones out. My secrets stayed tucked up in random places, shiny and sparkling like pieces of of a jewel. There was almost a little world in my head... and it was all thanks to Shadow. Without him... I probably would have cracked and shattered long ago, faded away to a shade of my former self. Maybe even become a monster, a monster with the determination and resilience of a human and the full forces of a ghost.

That's what a hallowed ghost was- a monster, a monster that could harness both the resistances of the human race and the powers of ghostkind. A monster that could hold themselves together with sheer stubbornness. A human with more power than possibly necessary. A ghost that didn't need an obsession, that could exist without any fear of falling apart.

I had more power than normal humans, and not even because of Shadow. When I was younger, as a psychic, I had held more power than any of my classmates. My temper tantrums led to glass breaking, stones thrown, bullies rocketed into the sky. I was shunned and left an outcast, though not bothered for _fear_ of my abilities. But with the ghosts... I was treated equally. I displayed power. Strength. I could hold my own against many of the weaker ghosts (though my strength stopped at Skulker). In the Ghost Zone, my abilities were seen as... normal. _I_ had been considered normal, for the first time in my life...

 _"Shadow?" I mumbled, holding onto his sleeve. He looked back at me, floating in the 'air' just in front of me._

 _"What is it?" His voice was kind, and I found myself comparing his voice to the humans I had once known, though my memories faded more and more everyday I spent in the Zone._

 _"Shadow, why don't the other ghosts hate me?"_ _  
_

 _He had been baffled. My question didn't compute. "What do you mean? Of course no ghost hates you. Sure, you might be human, but that doesn't mean anything! Why? Have any other ghosts been picking on you? 'Cause I'll show 'em who's boss, if you need me to!"_

 _"N-No! I-I was just..." I glanced away, hanging my head. "In the human world... I was a freak."_

 _"A freak?" he echoed. "No, those humans just weren't special like you. That's all." He took my face in his hands and turned it towards him, kissing first my nose and then my forehead. "They just weren't special like you. You're not a freak. Okay?"_

 _"But why don't the other ghosts see me as an outcast? I'm human. I'm a freaky little human with freaky little powers that are barely under my control." One tear escaped my one remaining eye, but I scrubbed it away before Shadow could kick up a fuss._

 _"..." Shadow was silent for a moment. Then, "No one hates you here because you aren't like them." He cradled my body close, his presence comforting. "Do you understand, Rosey? You aren't like them. You're like us."_

 _No one hated me in the Ghost Zone. I wasn't like other humans. I was like other ghosts._

"Rose?" Sam's voice snapped me out of my memories. I caught her smiling down at me, though it was more like a playful smirk. "Sleep well?" She laughed for the rest of the morning as I tried to be angry; but I couldn't be. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't rack up any real anger towards the goth girl. Her bringing me onto the bed had resurfaced one of my favorite memories, my most comforting memory.

 _You aren't like them._

 _You're like us._


	21. Chapter 21

The sleepover went rather well. I stayed over one more night at Sam's insistence and then returned to Tucker's house, crashing on his bed as he played DOOM on his laptop.

"I'm so tired," I moaned, crawling into his lap and forcing him to shift his laptop. Luckily, my back made a pretty good table. And his laptop was warm, which felt great on my exhausted muscles.

"What- it's fine, Rose is back, that's all," Tuck said into his headset. "What happened, Rose?"

"Sam made me spend time with her stupid parents," I groaned. "Those people are so exhausting to be around. Plus they get up _so early."_

"Oh wow," the teen snorted, looping one arm lightly over my shoulders as a form of comfort. "That sucks- yo, Danny, did you hear them?" Danny evidently said that he had, because Tucker proceeded to say, "Glad to know you're on the same track! Midnight?"

"What, are you guys plotting revenge on behalf of little old me?" I snarked sarcastically.

"Yup!"

"Oh god..."

[line break]

"You drew faces on her food," I deadpanned, staring at the text I had just received from the goth girl. "You sneaked into her house at midnight and drew faces on all of the fruits and vegetables in the house. And you've done this not once, but _four times before._ "

Danny looked particularly smug, maybe because it was his powers that had gotten them into the mansion in the first place, but Tucker looked even smugger, if that were possible. "You aren't mad, I know you aren't," Tucker laughed, ruffling my hair. I bit at him. He pulled his hand back quickly, but he totally expected it because he didn't even look frightened.

"She's gonna murder you both, and I'm gonna watch."

"She can have fun with that," Danny answered right back. "What I'm more worried about is the lack of ghost attacks. Not even Boxy has shown up!"

"Oh, please," I snorted. "That's my fault. Skulker probably told the rest of the Zone that I'm here. No one really wants to mess with me, because Shadow's a sonuvabitch when he's angry, and honestly I probably scarred Boxy for life after that stunt Shadow and I pulled a few years back with Ember. Why, do you _want_ the ghosts to attack sooner rather than later? Cause I'm pretty sure-"

"No no," Danny said quickly, cutting me off. His eyes were wide with horror at the thought of having regular ghost attacks (again?) as he sputtered, "No, that's good, thanks, I want to enjoy this while it lasts." Just as he finished his sentence, a long wisp of cold air came from Danny's mouth.

"You jinxed it," I laughed. I punched him on the shoulder with only a little bit more force that I used for Tucker (he was a halfa, he could take it) and gave him a little shove. "Go on, go fight whoever it is. If you need help, I'm inside."

"Hey kid!" came a familiar voice. "What, does Daddy not get a greeting?"

I blinked, and then I was out the door, Danny and Tucker following. Outside stood Dad, his greasy mullet flecked with snow. His motorcycle rumbled in the background. A grin appeared on my face and I launched myself at him, laughing. "Dad! What are you doing here?"

 _"Johnny 13 is your dad?!"_ came Tucker's surprised shout. I glanced over from my adoptive father's arms, being held up easily by the stronger ghost.

"Sorry but-" I blew at my dad, melting the snow on his face, " _someone_ is probably an enemy of Danny's!"

"Johnny." Danny stood with his arms crossed, a stubborn look on his face. I looked to Dad and mentally sweat-dropped with Shadow at the similar expression on Dad's face.

"Phantom."

"You got a kid?"

"Two, actually, as I'm sure you're aware."

"Ah."

"Can you both please stop with the angry faces?" I groaned, teleporting out of my Dad's arms. I crossed my own arms as Shadow materialized behind me, burying his face in my hair and wrapping his arms around me (God, his body was so warm- I couldn't remember if this was because of his core or because of our link). "Can't you two at least truce?" I turned to Danny, scowling. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd act like this." Then I rounded on my dad. "And I didn't tell _you_ where I was because I knew this would happen."

"Huh?" both blanked.

"What do you mean, knew?" Danny asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Hallowed ghost powers," I retorted, "psychic, gee, what else could it possibly be?"

[line break]

"Well, see ya Night'," Dad sighed, pulling me into a rough, quick hug. "Keep your nose clean, okay kid?"

"Yes Dad," I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Tell Mom I'm okay and that I love her, please?"

"Sure, kid." And then he was gone, gone through a portal from his motorcycle.

"Why does he call you Night?" Tucker asked, since Danny had had to run home and make sure that no other ghosts were coming through his family's portal.

"Simple," I shrugged. "Most ghosts know me as Nightingale. It's apparently rude to call a hallowed ghost by one of their old names. Don't worry," I said quickly as his face paled, "Shadow and I don't care, since we're mostly separate."

"Mostly?"

"Remember the crying incident? That was completely separate."

 _"Oh."_


	22. Chapter 22

With the weather getting a little warmer and no more snow falling, Rose felt a little better than they previously had. Winter break came to a close and they fled the Foley household, which was becoming far too much like a safe space. None of us couldn't afford safe spaces- if we were found, we would have a harder time leaving if we had any attachments. School was the same as always, though poor Rose felt the pressure to study as pop quizzes began to spring up. As the little human began to get overwhelmed, I took over.

Hiding within a human form was easy enough; all I had to do was maintain a steady flow of energy to certain areas of our shared body. Though it didn't quite help with not changing Rose's eyes (yes, eyes; I had influence over his eye socket as well- it often led to strange encounters), it did help with containing my ghostlike features.

"Pop quiz next class," I mused aloud to my Beta and his lonefriend (a friend of the pack who didn't seem to have a pack themselves). The nice girl wasn't with us at the moment, as she had a different 'class' than we did. Rose had attempted to explain the 'classes' to me, but, simply put, humans confused me. So instead, I merely passed information to Rose and had the correct responses transferred back. "Better study." My own voice was raspier than Rose's, and of a somewhat higher pitch.

"N-Nightingale?" Tucker stared at me in shock, and I merely blinked at him. "S-Sorry, I just haven't heard you talk before." He and his lonefriend ('Danny'? What a strange name... the same was true of 'Tucker', though. Humans...) pulled out their books and began to peruse them frantically.

"Hmph," I hummed uncaringly, apathy pervading my voice. "There simply wasn't a reason to. But not everything can be conveyed with body language."

[line break]

Thanks to Nightingale, I was able to lower my stress levels and keep control of myself for a few extra days. But Nightingale didn't really like human interaction, nor did he quite enjoy being in control. There were reasons why Shadow and I weren't constantly tangled, after all. But that was besides the point...

"Rose!" Tucker grabbed at my arm, trying to pull my hand away from my skin. My pacing faltered and I stumbled as he grabbed me, confused. He was frantic, though my dissociating mind didn't realize why until he began to tug harder, with more desperation. "Rose, _stop_ it, you're going to _hurt yourself!"_

Suddenly my hand was in my view- my fingertips bloodied. _What...?_ A slight stinging in my arm caused me to look down, and I realized that I'd been scratching at my skin. My body froze as the information processed. I slowly looked up at Tucker, who seemed similarly frozen; I began to back away.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, moving away from him. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry-" And I fled like the coward I was.

[line break]

The forest was a safe space. A safe space to recollect my thoughts and reseal myself away from my memories. Though wolves weren't really meant for climbing, I had scaled a tree (stripping off a good chunk of bark as I did so) and now I was curled on the highest branch I could reach that would bear my weight. Shadow paced on the ground below, worried but unable to access my mind or reach me physically. He'd tried- my psychic powers, unrestrained, lashed out at him every time he got close.

Panting, I cradled my head in my arms as I fought off waves of panic and memories. "No," I whined, digging my nails into my scalp. "No no nonononono... I don't want to remember..."

Down on the ground, my phone rang.

[line break]

I answered the phone.

"Rose?" The voice on the other side was panicked and full of fear. It was the nice girl, Sam, though I could tell she had the phone on 'speaker'.

"No," I rumbled, hiding my own emotions, "no, this is Shadow. Rose is currently in a tree."

"A tree? Why are they in a tree?" flowed Tucker's voice from the tiny metal box I held, somewhat static-y.

"Rose is up there because they want me to leave them alone," I replied, keeping my voice even. "They're having a mental breakdown and they've closed themselves off to me."

" _What?!_ "

[line break]

I must have passed out and fallen from the tree, because I woke up on the ground with a headache and an impossibly large mottled black wolf curled around me. Huh.

But wasn't tonight the first night of the full moon? Then why was Shadow so.. docile?

A concerned whine rang in my head as the wolf shifted, nudging my cheek with his wet nose and sniffing at me. Unable to answer, my voice not working properly (or, well, really, _at all_ ), I just blinked and shifted uncomfortably. My body was _not_ supposed to bend like this, I was pretty sure. I wrinkled my nose when the wolf licked my hair, his long tongue sweeping over my forehead and making my bangs stick up awkwardly.

 _Oh._ Shadow was being docile because I was, essentially, his packmate and I wasn't feeling well. Being the alpha of the pack (at the current moment, anyway), his instincts drove him to look after me. I was totally gonna share these memories with him tomorrow and blackmail him, but for now his doting worry was comforting. I was _here_ and not in Wisconsin, I was _here_ and not with _him_ but with _Shadow_ and, honestly, that made me feel so much better.

Better enough that I fell asleep again, anyway.

 **Hey! I'm _so_ sorry about the wait, but school started up again and I had writer's block. I'll try not to be so bad at updates! And sorry for the kind-of screenshot-ish type of chapter, buuut, well, this is mainly from Rose's point of view. Memories get lost, ya know. If you enjoyed, please leave a review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**:) im great at _keeping_ promises**

 **But for real, I've lost muse for rewriting this story. I will update whenever I get the muse, I promise, but right now I just don't. This story is going on hiatus for an undecided amount of time. But I'm not going to stop writing!  
**

 **I've recently begun working on another story, a _Kingdom Hearts_ fanfiction. It's not posted yet, nor am I sure when it will be posted, but I'll try to keep you guys updated! If you like my works, please follow me as an author. It'll let you know when I _do_ post my new story! It's going to be called _L_ spelled just like that (I'm so sorry).**

 **Keep being awesome you guys, and stay safe!**

 **-Zelith**


	24. Chapter 24

**welp. sorry for the super long wait! i only recently got muse again for this story, and i've been mostly working on that KH story i told y'all about last time i updated. i'm not going to be updating super often, but whenever i get muse i'll try to write. but here we go!**

Everything went back to normal within a few months. Summer was nearing and I, in my all-knowing wisdom (note the sarcasm), had voiced to my friends my desire to leave Amity Park.

"Why would you want to leave?" Sam queried; she looked almost hurt, and I felt bad about my decision to leave once the summer rolled around. See, I told myself, this was why I had tried not to get attached to anyone here. Now I was trapped.

"There's a crazed nut after me," I shrugged. "He's really rich and really powerful, and I've been running from him for years. You might have heard of him- Vlad Masters?"

The trio before me had matching wide-eyed expressions of shock and pity. "Oh boy," Danny breathed. "Have we got some explaining to do."

"He thinks I'm a halfa," I explained. "Keeps trying to convince me that Shadow and I are the same person." They had explained to me that they knew Vlad, and that he was a fruitloop who tried to kill Danny's father, marry his mom, and take him as an evil apprentice/son. "Mom and Dad know he's evil, but they couldn't really do anything when he stole Shadow and me after he discovered that we were ghost and human. So I've been running from him."

"Huh... Say, would you remember where you were a few years ago? Two years, to be exact?" Danny seemed to be on to something, so I told him.

"I think I was in Nebraska," I hummed, trying to remember. "Why?"

"I met that old fruitloop when he invited my entire family to this reunion," Danny sighed. "I was wondering where you were."

"Nebraska." I grinned. "It's cold there. I nearly froze. He had to come save me."

Tucker winced. "Rough luck."

"This is my tenth time running away," I continued. "Apparently, staying closer to where he is makes it harder for him to find me. Did I ever tell you I nearly got to Mexico before he caught me?"

"Not leaving anymore?" Sam checked with me on the last day of school.

"Not leaving," I sighed. "I can't help it. I promised myself I wouldn't get attached, and what did Shadow and I do? Get attached."

"If Vlad comes by, I'll beat him up for you," Danny growled, eyes flashing neon green. "Subjecting you to Spectra as 'therapy' should count as abuse."

"Eh. Spectra and I are pretty good friends now. She feeds on my misery, and I get left alone." I shrugged. "Pretty good deal to me."

"If you say so, Rose," Tucker said doubtfully. Thankfully, my friends moved on to safer, less shaky topics to talk about, like Doomed.

Summer arrived, and I found myself at a sleepover at Danny's house.

"So what's the point of this again?" I asked, hands extended into Sam's lap as she painted them silver. "Other than getting my nails painted, that is, because I hate doing that myself."

"The point is to have fun," Danny answered, distracted by playing Doomed with Tucker. Shadow was milling between them, tail wagging, occasionally shouting out strategies in excitement. His voice, disguised as mine, thankfully wasn't enough to bring Danny's parents up here. I'd have a hard time explaining away the ghost, after all.

"What kind of glitter do you want?" Sam asked, holding up three bottles. I picked out a bright purple one, and let Sam apply it. "Are you okay, Rose? You've been staring into the distance for a little bit."

I shook my head and smiled, brushing nasty thoughts aside. "I'm fine. Don't worry. How did you get your parents to agree to let you stay over, Sam?"

"I told them I was going to Paulina's mansion," Sam chuckled.

"They're gonna be mad when they find out you lied," Shadow warned, thumping down to watch the glitter on my nails dry. Lately, Shadow had been far more possessive than normal. He never said anything when I asked him, and thus I had stopped asking. "...Danny."

"Hm?" The halfa turned to look at Shadow, confused.

"No matter what, don't go out tonight." There was an odd, hard tone to Shadow's voice, a hint of that alpha instinct.

"Why not?" Danny seemed to almost flare up in irritation, like an opposing alpha. I flinched back, and Sam put herself between me and Shadow. Shadow, turned to face Danny now, didn't notice. "I have patrols to do," Danny pointed out.

"I'll do them." Shadow was getting agitated. "Just stay inside tonight. That goes for you, too, Rose."

"But _why?"_ Danny stressed the word like he was trying not to snarl.

"I can't explain it, but just don't go out tonight," Shadow insisted. "Something strange is going to happen tonight, and I don't want any of my pack caught in the crossfire!"

"...Pack?" Tucker whispered.

Shadow nodded resignedly. "Yes. You're all my packmates now. As the alpha of the pack, it's my job to make sure you're all safe. Which is why I need you all to stay inside tonight."

Danny was silent for, like, three entire minutes before sighing, "Okay. I won't go out tonight."

"You know I'll be inside," I reminded Shadow. Still, I clutched Sam's sides in slight fear. Shadow could be scary, and the biting scar on my shoulder still twinged sometimes. When we were still separate, Shadow had gotten angry at me for not staying inside when he'd asked and he'd bitten me in anger. Though he had immediately been horrified at himself and apologized, I still had that fear of being bitten again. He'd never bitten me again, and often left me somewhere safe when he was angry.

Shadow sighed in relief, smiling now. "Thank you. I'll take care of patrols tonight, just get a good rest."

"Any inkling on what might happen?" Sam asked, coaxing me out from behind her. At that sight, Shadow seemed to deflate a little; connected mentally as we were, I could feel the pang of regret and remorse sweep through him.

"No," Shadow responded to Sam's question, "But whatever it is, I don't think any of you should be out tonight."

With no other option, we all agreed to stay inside. We fell asleep in a pile on the floor, unaware of what tomorrow would bring.


	25. Chapter 25

Breakfast was an... interesting affair. I was just eating my pancakes when Mr. Fenton clapped me on the back, causing me to flinch and jolt forward.

"Good news, kids!" he crowed. "We're going to Wisconsin to see Vladdy!"

"Uh, Mr. Fenton, are you sure we're _all_ going to Wisconsin...?" Sam seemed put-out, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste as I thought of returning to Wisconsin _willingly._

"Of course!" Mr. Fenton really was excitable. "Danno's friends are practically Fentons!"

So that's how I ended up in a ghost-hunting vehicle going 90 miles over the speed limit, terrified out of my mind and digging claws into the seat of the "RV". Tucker's parents had amicably agreed to let their son go to Wisconsin, and Sam's parents were just glad to get her out of their hair (even if it was with the Fentons). And, of course, my parents were out of commission for things like this. So off to Wisconsin we went.

Shadow, too, was terrified. Of what Vlad might say, of what Vlad might do, of what Vlad might plan. Would he try to make it out that I was his charge? Would he physically keep me from leaving? Would he find some way to make time to come to Illinois and kidnap me?

All too soon, we were at Vlad's front door.

"Ah, Maddie," Vlad said warmly. "Welcome to my humble abode." _Barf._

"Hey, Vladdy!" Boisterous as ever, Mr. Fenton didn't even seem to notice that Vlad hadn't said anything to him. "Thanks for inviting us here!"

"Oh, it was my pleasure, Jack," Vlad responded coolly. "And I see you've brought Daniel and his friends." His eyes rested on me for a moment longer than necessary, then did a sweep of the area. "Wherever is Jasmine?"

"Oh, Jazz is busy applying for jobs and colleges," Mrs. Fenton responded. Jazz had opted to stay home under the guise of needing to be ready for the next school year, but unfortunately us high schoolers couldn't use the same excuse. "This is Rose, one of Danny's new friends."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Rose," Vlad said with a slight smile, holding out his hand. Instead of taking it, I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Masters," I answered blithely. "Sorry if I don't shake your hand, but I don't really like having my hands touch other people. It's a sensory thing, I'm sure you know how it is."

"Indeed," Vlad said, taking his hand back and instead trying to charm Mrs. Fenton with a smile. "Come in, come in..."

"It _is_ nice to see you again, dear child," Vlad said smugly, sitting in his stupid throne-like chair in his stupid sitting room. "How have you been since you ran away? I never thought to see you come back willingly."

"We've been perfectly fine," I responded, a smirk on my face. I ignored the twitch on his face at the 'we'. "It's almost like camping, except there's an old nutjob chasing you."

Vlad and I were playing chess; the old man had gotten me into the game and it was easy to hide our conversation. He moved one of his rooks and took one of my pawns, but I merely shrugged. I had never been good at the game anyway.

"I'm sorry to hear that, child," Vlad hummed, thinking over his next move. "Perhaps next time you'll stay here with me."

"Sorry to be a disappointment," I chuckled, allowing a lazy grin to appear on my face, "but I prefer to be by myself."

"Oh?" Vlad won the game in a single move, cornering my king. I shrugged in defeat and began to set the board up again. "Then I suppose you'll be leaving Daniel soon?"

"Unfortunately," and here I scowled as though in concentration (since Vlad was 'nice' enough to let me make the first move), "he and his friends seem to be quite attached to me. I tried leaving around the beginning of the summer, and I was practically weighed down with their silly human emotions."

"Then perhaps I will have to visit Amity Park to see you, dear child," the old halfa offered. He said it like a question but phrased it like a sentence.

"Perhaps you will," and that was the end of that conversation. We could be perfectly civil to each other when we wanted to, and Vlad played the part of calm old billionaire very well. I likely didn't play my part of excited teenager very well, but I was never excited anyway.

"Hey, Vlad." My voice came out as a whisper.

"Yes, dear child?"

"Why is it... that sometimes I just can't feel anything?"

The startled look Vlad gave me disappeared under a guise of calmness as he made a move on the chessboard. "Whatever do you mean, Rose?"

I shrugged, troubled. "Sometimes... I just can't feel anything. I'll be in a fight with another ghost, and then... I just won't be able to feel anything. Mercy, anger, compassion... it all disappears under a burning emptiness."

"I don't really have an explanation," Vlad said after a while. "But, you should see a real therapist. Perhaps you will find an answer there."

Vlad began to pack away the chessboard as I sat on the couch, eyes unfocused. When he was done, he stood up and held out a hand to me. I took it and let him pull me up. Wandering away, I paused as I reached the stairs. I looked back to the old nutjob, standing calmly in front of the couch.

"...Thank you, Vlad. For the advice."

As I began my trek towards my room, I heard his faint response.

"Anytime, young one."

 **:)**


	26. Chapter 26

**wow guys im so good at updating :) im on my phone so if you see any spelling mistakes please tell me!**

"Goodbye, Maddie, Jack," Vlad said coolly as we left. We'd been there for two, maybe three days and now Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were eager to get back to Amity. Shadow was too, and his uneasiness bled through into me. Vlad grabbed my shoulder as I passed him, and I bared my teeth in an automatic response when his hand landed on the biting scar. He let go rather quickly at the sight of my sharp teeth. "Have you considered staying, Rose?" he asked me.

"Yeah, and I'd rather not," I responded lightly. He'd been asking me to stay for the past day, and each time I told him no. "Goodbye, Vlad."

"Goodbye, Rose."

/linebreak/

"Vlad is creepy," I groaned into Danny's pillow. "Who the hell asks a teenager who's run away _ten times_ if they've considered staying?"

"Well, he is a fruitloop," Danny pointed out.

"Fruitloops _are_ the creepiest of cereals," Sam laughed.

"Don't worry too much, dude," Tucker reassured me, "nobody's gonna let him kidnap you."

"Thanks, guys," I sighed, propping my head up on my arms. "Shadow's super nervous, so all his worrying is bleeding over into me."

Tucker patted my back and then my head, causing me to sigh and relax a little.

"Shadow's pretty set on keeping us all inside forever," I mused. "Give me reasons why he shouldn't."

Laughing, my friends began piling reasons onto me, whih ended up with Shadow whining to me for a couple of hours.

/linebreak/

"Shadow!" I called. "Come on out. You can't hide forever!"

"Watch me!" came his muffled reply. I sighed and shuffled forward, wincing as my twisted ankle dragged on the ground.

See, Shadow was hiding because I'd gotten caught in the middle of a ghost fight. Despite not being in his body, I had attempted to ease the fight. When the ghosts wouldn't listen, Shadow had become agitated and separated from me. He got in the middle of the fight, snarling and snapping, and an ectoblast had hit me. He was absolutely convinced that it had been his blast and was now mortified, hidinv from everyone.

"It wasn't your fault, Shadow!" I shouted. "Sometimes humans get hurt, and you have to stop sulking because of it!"

No response.

I realized I couldn't feel Shadow's presence anymore. And my ankle was throbbing.

Sighing, I sat down with my back to a tree and hoped Shadow would get over it and come find me soon, necause the forest was scary at night when it was dark and I had no way to defend myself.

"Please find me," I whispered, curling up into a ball as rain began to fall.

/linebreak/

Shadow did not find me.

I sat on the ground and steadily got wetter and wetter until I was so cold I couldn't move. Snuffling in the underbrush was what forest alerted me to the fact that I wasn't alone. But what was the point in looking up when Shadow had left me all alone?

My distress must have been clear, because the snuffling creature whined and came closer. I raised my head to see a grey wolf coming closer. It was larger than Shadow and had amber eyes. Behind it waited three other wolves, all three the same grey color. The one that approached me must have been able to smell my pack-scent, because it was far friendlier than a wolf should be to a human.

It shuffled closer and sniffed my hair, then bit my shirt and dragged me forward. Too shocked to scream, I let the wolf drag me with it through the woods to a large, dark cave. The area reeked of wolf, and I realized in fear that I must have been in this pack's territory. What were they going to do to me?

Not for the first time, I wished that Shadow had come for me.

The wolf dragging me must have been the alpha, and I whimpered as it dragged me into the cave. It dropped me at the back and then thumped down next to me, tail still and calm. The other three bounded in with a deer being dragged between them, bloody and barely dead. My breath choked me and I flinched, hiding my face in my arms.

 _Please, Shadow,_ I begged into the darkness surrounded my mind, _please please please come find me._

The wolves tore the deer apart and ate, trying to offer me the meat when they realized I hadn't moved from my spot at the back of the cave. The alpha carried a piece towards me, and I was left with no choice but to take it and eat it.

I felt sick.

/linebreak/

The wolves did their best to care for me. They were animals, wild animals, and thus couldn't understand me, but my body language was clear enough to them. I was terrified. At night, they would curl around me and rub their pack-scent intonmy skin and clothes. During the day, one wolf would stay in the cave with me while the others hunted. Each time they came back, I forced a little bit of meat into my mouth. Each time I did, the nausea in my stomach grew.

It was days before Shadow managed to find me.

A howl split the air one night and I whimpered, pressing myself farther into the damp wall of the cave. The wolves sprang into action, snarling and thundering out of the cave to fight.

 _Rose! I finally found you_ a relieved voice cried in my head. _Don't worry, I'll save you._

Shadow had finally come to save me.

/linebreak/

The fighting was fierce, but mortal animals were no match for a vicious, angry werewolf. When the wolves were down, he sprang into the cave and helped me onto his back, sprinting away towards Amity.

When we finally got there, Shadow was all over me. He seemed so upset, cleaning away the blood on me and rubbing his scent over the new pack-scent that I had. He was just so worried.

"I've been searching for days," he told me in between his fussing. "I finally found you and oh my stars I'm so glad you're safe-"

Shadow broke down then, just holding me close and letting his tears go.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered.

"I thought you wouldn't come for me," J whispered back.

"No," he snarled, hugging me tighter. "I'd never leave you. _Never."_

I cried for hours.

 **Well. uhhh tbh this chapter wrote itself. i didnt plan for this sadness but uhhhhhh it happened. well. hope you guys enjoy?**


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